Former President Barack Obama listens as Vice President Kamala Harris talks about the Affordable Care Act in the east room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. (AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster) With hugs, laughter and goodwill, Barack Obama returned to the White House on Tuesday for the first time in more than five years to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the signing of the health care bill and boost President Joe Biden’s efforts to expand. the. The Affordable Care Act has survived repeated repeal efforts by Republicans. Biden, who was Obama No. 2 when “Obamacare” became law in March 2010, wants to extend the scope of the law to even more than the current millions. He gave all the credit for the original law to the former president. “It’s because of you,” Biden said as he presented himself as Obama’s vice president. Biden said the law “shows that hope leads to change,” a game with Obama’s campaign slogan “hope and change.” Obama last visited the White House on January 20, 2017, when he left to accompany Donald Trump, the successor to the overthrow of the law, to the Capitol for the inauguration. “It is good that I am returning to the White House. It’s been a while, “said Vice President Kamala Harris after she was introduced to the East Room. Obama opened by referring to Biden as the “vice president” before acknowledging it was a “set up” joke and embracing his former No. 2. Obama said he and Biden had achieved “a lot” in their eight years, but “nothing made me more proud than providing better health care and more protection to millions of people in this country.” “The ACA was an example of why you were running for office from the beginning,” Obama said, calling it “the highlight of my time here.” Biden called the Affordable Care Act the most consistent piece of legislation since Medicare and Medicaid were created in 1965, and insisted it should be extended to more people. “We can do it. We have to do it. We have to do it,” Biden said. Biden and Obama celebrated the 12th anniversary of the bill, which in 2010 the then vice president had unforgettably whispered to Obama that it was a “big (insulting) deal” – words that were recorded in an open microphone. At Tuesday’s event, Biden signed an executive order to close a “family problem” under a 2010 law his government believes will help another 200,000 people get affordable coverage. Before signing the decree, Biden jokingly warned Obama. “Let me remind you, it’s a hot microphone.” Obama warmed up the crowd with a few jokes about how things changed around the White House under Biden, leaning on the current tenant’s kinship for sunglasses and ice cream and his taste in pets. He joked that Secret Service agents should now wear aviator sunglasses, the White House chaos has been replaced by a Baskin-Robbins and “there is a cat running around.” “I guarantee you Bo and Sonny would be very unhappy with that,” Obama said, referring to his family’s dogs. As for “Obamacare”, the stay of the law has been strengthened by three victories in the Supreme Court and the emphatic vote of the late Senator John McCain, which dissolved the efforts of then President Trump to repeal it and replace it. The bill was so terrible in 2010 that Democrats rarely invoked it as they went to the polls, which Obama said was a “cleansing.” Now Democrats hope the political equation will work in their favor. and that focusing on supporting the law can help them avoid collapsing at the polls this November. Harris, in her remarks, called on Congress to allow Medicare to negotiate the prices of prescription drugs and make permanent subsidies for the Affordable Care Act contained in Biden’s bill to address the pandemic. Harris also called 12 states that have not extended their eligibility for Medicaid. Obama referred to the health care law as a “starting house” on which Americans can build, gradually reducing the 9% share of the population that remains uninsured. The percentage was almost 15% in 2013, before the provisions of the law came into force. Between the Medicaid extension of the health care law and the health insurance markets, more than 30 million people are now estimated to be covered. Biden opened up health insurance markets to anyone seeking coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the coronavirus relief bill provided a significant, albeit temporary, increase in financial assistance. The result was a record 14.5 million people registered for subsidized private coverage. People who stumble upon the “family problem” are dependent on employees who have a job offer from the employer that the government interprets as affordable. As a rule, people with affordable employer coverage are not eligible for tax-subsidized ACA programs. But the problem with the current interpretation is that affordability is determined by the cost of coverage only for employees and not by more expensive family contracts. Employees who can afford their own share may not be able to cover premiums for the whole family. Thus, the family is cut off from ACA coverage. A Biden government regulation addressing the issue recently approved the White House revision. The original policy was intended to prevent employer-covered individuals from entering health law-subsidized markets, but advocates say it has proved too restrictive. There are more fundamental issues that both presidents need to address, both politically and politically. Unless Democrats in Congress finally unite around a Biden bill, his boosted financial aid to millions buying ACA plans will expire at the end of this year. A return to higher premiums is likely to cause an increase in the number of uninsured, a problem for them and a political embarrassment for Democrats who have pledged to expand coverage. The Biden Act, which was passed by Parliament but passed in the Senate, also includes a mechanism to provide coverage to up to 4 million uninsured low-income adults in states that have refused to extend the Medicaid Health Act. It would fulfill Biden’s campaign promise to leverage existing government programs to bring the US closer to coverage for all.
