Obama in White House — for a day — in health bill push
WASHINGTON — With hugs, laughs and good-natured ribbing, Barack Obama on Tuesday returned to the White House for the first time in more than five years to savor the 12th anniversary of his signature health care law and give a boost to President Joe Biden’s efforts to expand it.
The Affordable Care Act has survived repeated repeal attempts by Republicans.
Biden, who was Obama’s No. 2 when “Obamacare” became law in March 2010, wants to extend the law’s reach to even more than the current millions. He gave the credit for the original law to the former president.
“It’s because of you,” Biden said after good-naturedly introducing himself as Obama’s vice president. Biden said the law “shows hope leads to change,“a play on Obama’s “hope and change” campaign slogan.
Obama was last at the White House on Jan. 20, 2017, when he left to escort Donald Trump, the successor bent on overturning the law, to the Capitol to be inaugurated.
“It’s good to be back in the White House. It’s been awhile,” he said after Vice President Kamala Harris introduced him in the East Room. Obama opened by referring to Biden as “vice president” before acknowledging that was a “set up” joke and embracing his former No. 2.
Obama said he and Biden accomplished “a lot” in their eight years but “nothing made me prouder than providing better health care and more protections to millions of people across this country.”
“The ACA was an example of why you run for office in the first place,” Obama said, calling it the “high point of my time here.”
Biden called the Affordable Care Act the most consequential legislation since Medicare and Medicaid were created in 1965, and insisted it must be expanded to more people.
“We can do this. We should do this. We have to do this,” Biden said. He said the law has been called a lot of things, “but Obamacare is the most fitting.”
Biden and Obama marked the 12th anniversary of the law, which back in 2010 the then-vice president had memorably whispered to Obama was a “big (expletive) deal” — words captured on an open microphone.
At Tuesday’s event, Biden signed an executive order to close a “family glitch” in implementation of the 2010 law that his administration believes will help 200,000 more people gain affordable coverage.
Before signing the order, Biden jokingly warned Obama. “Let me remind you, it’s a hot mic.”
As for “Obamacare,” the law’s staying power has been enhanced by three Supreme Court victories and the late Sen. John McCain’s emphatic thumbsdown vote that took the wind out of then-President Trump’s efforts to repeal and replace it.
The law was such a bugaboo in 2010 that Democrats rarely invoked it as they went into a midterm election that turned out to be, in Obama’s own words, a “shellacking.” Now, Democrats are hoping the political equation will work to their advantage, and that a focus on shoring up the law can help avoid a debacle at the polls this November.
Harris, in her remarks, called on Congress to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and to make permanent subsidies for the Affordable Care Act that were included in Biden’s pandemic relief bill. Harris also called out 12 states that have not expanded eligibility for Medicaid.
Between the health law’s Medicaid expansion and its health insurance markets, more than 30 million people are now estimated to be getting coverage.
Biden opened up the health insurance markets to anyone seeking coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, and his coronavirus relief bill provided a significant, though temporary, increase in financial assistance. The result was a record 14.5 million people signing up for subsidized private coverage.
People tripped up by the “family glitch” are dependents of workers who have an offer of employer coverage that the government interprets as being affordable. As a rule, people with affordable employer coverage are not eligible for taxpayersubsidized ACA plans.
The Biden legislation, which passed the House but sputtered in the Senate, also includes a mechanism for providing coverage to as many as 4 million uninsured low-income adults in states that have refused the health law’s Medicaid expansion. It would deliver on Biden’s campaign promise to build on existing government programs to move the U.S. closer to coverage for all.