Earlier this morning the Senate Finance Committee, during its markup of the “Chairman’s Mark” of the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009, voted down an amendment that would have helped ensure that Americans can keep their current coverage.

The amendment offered by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) stated the following:

“The implementation of Americas Healthy Future Act of 2009 shall be conditioned on the Secretary of Health and Human Services certifying to Congress that this legislation would not cause more than 1,000,000 Americans to lose the current coverage of their choice.”

The intention was to put into law President Obama’s oft repeated promise that “If you like your health insurance, you can keep it.” However the amendment failed on a party line vote.