President Obama wants to give a little more life to his jury-rigged effort to let people keep health care plans they liked. The Associated Press reports that the administration “is considering an extension of the president's decision to let people keep their individual insurance policies even if they are not compliant with (Obamacare).” The press reports that the president may be looking to extend the carve-out for up to three years:

“Health and Human Services spokesman Joanne Peters confirmed that the issue is under discussion, saying: ‘We are continuing to examine all sorts of ways to provide consumers with more choices and to smooth the transition as we implement the law. No decisions have been made.’”

Here’s an easy decision, Mr. President: If you really do want to change the law to let people keep their individual insurance policies, you should work through Congress — the branch of government that writes laws under our Constitution. There is a bill that does exactly what the press says you want.

It lets policyholders keep their coverage that they chose and found satisfactory before the Affordable Care Act upset the market. The bill has been introduced and is ready to be passed by Congress just as soon as President Obama tells his Democrat allies controlling the Senate to agree to it. All you have to do is to start doing what you say you want to do — work with Congress.

The bill is the If You Like Your Health Plan You Can Keep It Act (S.1617). It is a true grandfather clause. The Affordable Care Act’s grandfather clause turns out to be phony — a massive consumer fraud. Even the Obama-friendly mainstream press describes it as having been “impractical.” As a result, millions of people have lost the plans they wanted to keep. PolitiFact was forced to brand the president’s promise, that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it” as the lie of the year.

The president evidently wants to make up for that. The If You Like Your Health Plan You Can Keep It Act, which I wrote and which was cosponsored by 42 Senate colleagues, will work where the Affordable Care Act failed. As I put it in the Washington Times:

“My bill restores the freedom for many more Americans to choose. Anyone who finds a better deal on the Obamacare exchange is free to take it. My bill overturns Obamacare’s assumption that Americans are too stupid to know what’s bad for them and that they must be forced off their existing insurance into health plans that Washington says are better, but often are just far more expensive.

“My bill assumes that people who chose a plan because they liked it know what they are doing and are free to choose that plan.”

We’re ready to go, Mr. President. You could start fixing this mess legally, involving Congress, being bipartisan. Just make the call.