Obama declares health care law is working
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| President Barack Obama speaks about the new health care law, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013, in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. The President argued that his health law is preventing insurance discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions and is allowing young people to stay on their parents' coverage until age 26. On stage with the president are Americans the White House says have gained as a result of the Affordable Care Act. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Seeking to regroup from his health care law's disastrous
rollout, President Barack Obama on Tuesday insisted that the sweeping
overhaul is working and warned Republican critics that he would fight
any efforts to strip away its protections.
"We're
not repealing it as long as I'm president," Obama said during a health
care event at the White House.
"If I have to fight another three years
to make sure this law works, then that's what I'll do."
Earlier
Tuesday, the administration released a 50-state report saying that
nearly 1.5 million people were found eligible for Medicaid during
October. As website problems depressed sign-ups for subsidized private
coverage, that safety-net program for low-income people saw a nearly 16
percent increase in states that have agreed to expand it, according to
the Department of Health and Human Services.
The
White House is trying to cast the health care law in a positive light
after the first two months of enrollment for the centerpiece insurance
exchanges were marred with technical problems. With the majority of
problems with the sign-up website resolved, by the accounting of
administration officials, Obama and his team plan to spend much of
December trying to remind Americans why the administration fought for
the law in the first place.
"We believe that
in America, nobody should have to worry about going broke because
somebody in their family or they got sick," Obama said, flanked by
people the White House says have benefited from the law.
Despite
Obama's sunny presentation, officials are furiously working behind the
scenes to rectify an unresolved issue with enrollment data that could
become a significant headache after the first of the year.
Insurers say
much of the enrollment data they're receiving is practically useless,
meaning some consumers might not be able to get access to benefits on
Jan. 1, the date their coverage is scheduled to take effect.
The
troubled rollout of the insurance exchanges has contributed to a drop
in Obama's overall job approval rating, while also emboldening
Republicans and putting Democratic lawmakers facing re-election on edge.
White
House officials say that with the worst of the website problems behind
them, the president will return to a familiar political argument:
criticizing Republicans for opposing the "Obamacare" law without
providing their own ideas for solving national health care woes.
"They sure haven't presented an alternative," Obama said. "You've got to tell us specifically what you'd do."
Despite
the website troubles, the White House says it is buoyed by high online
traffic. On Monday, officials said, the site received about 1 million
visitors, though they would not detail how many of those had actually
enrolled for insurance policies.
Medicaid
sign-ups are proceeding on a separate track. While subsidized private
coverage is available to middle class people in all 50 states, the
expanded version of Medicaid currently is provided only in states that
agreed to accept it. So far 25 states and Washington, D.C., have done
so.
Tuesday's report showed that states that
expanded their Medicaid programs saw a nearly 16 percent increase in
applications during October. States that did not expand saw a smaller,
4-percent increase.
