President Obama says he�s sorry ? believe him ?

President Obama said in an interview on Thursday that he�s sorry a number of Americans are being forced to change their health care plans despite previous assurances that the Affordable Care Act would allow them to keep their existing plans.

"I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," Obama told Chuck Todd during an interview with NBC News at the White House.

Obama�s admission represents the latest evolution on the issue dating back to before the Affordable Care Act was even voted into law in 2009.

"We've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them and we are going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this," Obama told NBC.

Up through September of this year, Obama was adamant that the Affordable Care Act would not impact Americans who already had their own health insurance.

�If you already have health care, you don�t have to do anything,� Obama said in a speech on September 25th speech in Prince George�s County, Maryland.

About 95 percent of Americans with health insurance are covered through their employers or a government program such as Medicare or Medicaid. Obama has also assured those people that their plans will not be impacted under the health care law.

However, independent estimates now project that the majority of those 5 percent of Americans who buy their own plans (about 14 million people) will have to make some kind of adjustment. The White House and administration surrogates have tried to mitigate criticism by contending some of those individuals will actually end up with cheaper and better plans. Nonetheless, the administration�s inability to clearly articulate to the public the nuance of the "grandfather" clause has turned it into a growing controversy for Obama.

After the law went into effect in October, early reports began to emerge that Americans who buy their own insurance were starting to get letters from insurance companies informing them they would need to upgrade their plans in order to be in compliance with the Affordable Care Act.

White House officials continued to insist that Obama did not �lie� to the American public about the issue. However, throughout October, the administration�s stance continued to evolve.

�What the president said and what everybody said all along is that there are going to be changes brought about by the Affordable Care Act to create minimum standards of coverage," White House Spokesman Jay Carney said on October 28th. �So it's true that there are existing health care plans on the individual market that don't meet those minimum standards and therefore do not qualify for the Affordable Care Act."

By October 30th, Obama�s own take had become, �Ever since the law was passed, if insurers decided to downgrade or cancel these substandard plans� you�ve got to replace them with quality, comprehensive coverage."

The White House has attempted to shift blame to insurance companies themselves. But on Thursday, the Washington Post�s Fact Checker said it was not accurate or fair to place all of the blame on private insurance carriers.