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Obama Returns to White House for 1st Time Since 2017, Celebrates Obamacare Anniversary
About 21 million people are covered by the ACA, according to a recent analysis by the Urban Institute. Measures in the bill include protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions and an expansion of Medicaid, the public health insurance program that covers people with lower incomes and disabilities. Though the ACA was unpopular in its early days, data from the Kaiser Permanente Foundation show that 55% of Americans support the law today.
By Brandon Patterson
Former President Obama returned to the White House this week for the first time since leaving office in 2017 to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act with President Joe Biden.
The ACA, passed in 2010 during Obama’s first term when Biden was vice president, is widely considered the crowning achievement of Obama’s administration, bringing affordable health insurance options to millions of Americans.
Obama, who maintains the close friendship with Biden developed previously in the White House, began his remarks by jokingly referring to “Vice President Biden” before giving Biden a hug. “That was all set up. My president, Joe Biden.” Obama was introduced by Vice President Kamala Harris. He received a standing ovation upon entry to into the press room.
“It’s fitting the first time you return to the White House is to celebrate a law that is transforming millions of lives because of you,” Biden said. “And I say because of you, you had a lot of help — staff, and I helped a little bit — but because of you. A law that shows hope leads to change, and you did that. Let’s be honest, the Affordable Care Act has been called a lot of things, but ‘Obamacare’ is the most fitting.”
About 21 million people are covered by the ACA, according to a recent analysis by the Urban Institute. Measures in the bill include protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions and an expansion of Medicaid, the public health insurance program that covers people with lower incomes and disabilities. Though the ACA was unpopular in its early days, data from the Kaiser Permanente Foundation show that 55% of Americans support the law today.
Republicans have repeatedly tried to repeal the ACA since it became law. The law survived challenges in the Supreme Court in both 2012 and 2015, though carveouts were made, including allowing states to opt out of the Medicaid expansion, which many Republican-led states have done.
Then in 2017, under former President Donald Trump, when Republicans also controlled both chambers of the Congress, Republicans came close to repealing it. But the attempt failed when three Republicans broke from the partly line, including the late Senator John McCain.
In the years since the Obama administration, Medicare for All, which would institute a national single-payer health care system where the government would serve as insurer for all residents, has become popular among progressives in the wake of the presidential campaigns of Senator Bernie Sanders and national organizing from progressive groups.
Recent political polling from Pew Research, Morning Consult and other polling firms have shown that most Americans support the proposal today. A March 2021 poll from Morning Consult found that 55% of Americans support Medicare for All.
Sources for this report were CNN, Morning Consult, Yahoo News.
