diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/cache/jsonfile.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/cache/jsonfile.py
index 356d899325e..08c57018cbb 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/cache/jsonfile.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/cache/jsonfile.py
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ class CacheModule(BaseCacheModule):
             except ValueError:
                 # FIXME: this is in display now, but cache plugins don't have that
                 #utils.warning("error while trying to write to %s : %s" % (cachefile, str(e)))
-                return dict()
+                raise KeyError
         finally:
             f.close()
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/vars/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/vars/__init__.py
index 591066e0785..0f1561b5a21 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/vars/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/vars/__init__.py
@@ -181,7 +181,10 @@ class VariableManager:
             all_vars = self._combine_vars(all_vars, host.get_vars())
 
             # next comes the facts cache and the vars cache, respectively
-            all_vars = self._combine_vars(all_vars, self._fact_cache.get(host.get_name(), dict()))
+            try:
+                all_vars = self._combine_vars(all_vars, self._fact_cache.get(host.name, dict()))
+            except KeyError:
+                pass
 
         if play:
             all_vars = self._combine_vars(all_vars, play.get_vars())
@@ -345,11 +348,13 @@ class VariableManager:
 
         assert isinstance(facts, dict)
 
-        host_name = host.get_name()
-        if host_name not in self._fact_cache:
-            self._fact_cache[host_name] = facts
+        if host.name not in self._fact_cache:
+            self._fact_cache[host.name] = facts
         else:
-            self._fact_cache[host_name].update(facts)
+            try:
+                self._fact_cache[host.name].update(facts)
+            except KeyError:
+                self._fact_cache[host.name] = facts
 
     def set_host_variable(self, host, varname, value):
         '''