by Stephen Collinson
President Barack Obama Tuesday cheered seven million people who bought into his health care law and lashed out at political foes who were "mad" that more Americans could get insured.
Obama savored a rare moment of triumph in his second term after the Affordable Care Act sign-up process defied skeptics and a rocky launch to hit its enrollment target ahead of a Monday deadline.
"Yes, at times, this reform has been contentious and confusing and obviously it's had a share of critics," Obama told a crowd in the White House Rose Garden.
"That's part of what change looks like in a democracy. Change is hard. Fixing what is broken is hard."
Obama, who has seen the early hopeful euphoria of his presidency drained by a fierce partisan battle with Republicans in Congress, insisted that the law, for which he has paid a heavy political price, had cut costs and widened access.
"But this law is doing what it is supposed to do. It's working," Obama said.
He also took aim at Republicans who have made repeated attempts to repeal Obamacare, in line with a new White House narrative that opponents of the law now actively want to deprive Americans of their new benefits.
"Why are folks working so hard for people not to have health insurance? Why are they so mad about the idea of folks having health insurance?"
Disastrous glitches
The White House said that a total of 7,041,000 people had signed up to plans in the new Obamacare private insurance market place after a late surge ahead of Monday's deadline.
The administration had initially set seven million enrollments as its target—but lost two months of sign-up time to disastrous glitches with the Healthcare.gov website late last year.
Few observers thought that a frantic administration effort to fix the site and reach out to potential customers at the grass roots would succeed.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the seven million figure would rise as more late arriving data flowed into Washington from the states.
The successful late surge in enrollments was just the latest drama for a health care law that cost Obama and his Democrats a large chunk of their political capital, had to be upheld by the Supreme Court and foundered on deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans cleaving the United States.
Republicans to fight on
Republicans however vowed to carry on opposing a law they say has put undue pressure on small businesses, costs jobs and hiked costs for health care consumers.
"All across the country our constituents are having an unpleasant interaction with Obamacare," said Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican.
"Whether they can sign up for a policy or not, they are discovering, of course, higher premiums, a higher deductible," he said.
"Many of them are losing their jobs and so it is really a catastrophe for the country both for the healthcare providers and the consumers."
The law demands that all Americans have health insurance or pay a fine, but offers subsidies for the less well-off to sign up.
It could be months until the full success of the law, the most sweeping social reform in America in decades, can be gaged.
It is unknown how many young people have signed up—an important indicator since they are needed to subsidize higher costs of older, sicker patients.
If Obamacare pools skew too old, the cost of premiums could rise next year.
Also unclear is whether everyone who registered for a health plan actually paid for it.
Another unknown is what percentage of those signing up had no prior coverage—a key metric in assessing if the law helped 40 million Americans who lack insurance.
Explore further: Obama comes out fighting on health care
© 2014 AFP
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
Obama comes out fighting on health care
Dec 03, 2013
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday tried to turn the focus away from the glitch-riven debut of his landmark health care law to its benefits, hoping to reverse a rough political run.
'Obamacare' sign-ups top six million
Mar 27, 2014
More than six million Americans had registered for health insurance under US President Barack Obama's reform by Thursday, fewer than initially hoped but in line with revised projections.
Obama takes satirical hit to chin to sell health care
Mar 11, 2014
US President Barack Obama is trying a new strategy in his struggle to sell his stumbling health care law—self parody.
Obamacare sign-ups hit 4.2 million (Update)
Mar 11, 2014
A further 940,000 Americans registered for President Barack Obama's health care plans in February, bringing to 4.2 million the number of people who have signed up so far, officials said Tuesday.
Health law sign-ups set to meet target
17 hours ago
Jammed phone lines and unreliable websites failed to stop a last-minute rush by hundreds of thousands of Americans trying to sign up for health coverage by the midnight Monday deadline for President Barack ...
Recommended for you
Record number of older adults completing living wills
3 hours ago
A record number of elderly people are completing living wills to guide end-of-life medical treatments – up from 47 percent in 2000 to 72 percent in 2010 – according to new research from the University of Michigan and ...
Levels of sodium intake recommended by CDC associated with harmful health outcomes
4 hours ago
A new study published in the American Journal of Hypertension finds evidence that the average daily sodium intake of most Americans is actually associated with better health outcomes than intake levels currently recommended by the ...
Unvaccinated infants act as 'kindling' to fuel epidemics
9 hours ago
Nearly 4 million children under 5 die from vaccine-preventable diseases worldwide each year, and two University of Michigan doctoral ecology students are working to change that.
Nearly one-third of initial prescriptions remain unfilled
9 hours ago
(HealthDay)—A sizable number of patients fail to fill their initial drug prescriptions, according to research published in the April 1 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Still no clear evidence for health benefits of vitamin D
9 hours ago
Despite a huge number of studies into the role of vitamin D on health, there is still no clear evidence that it has a beneficial effect on many conditions, conclude researchers.
Parental messages that stress no alcohol do get through, survey finds
9 hours ago
(HealthDay)—Making it clear to your teen that underage drinking is unacceptable is a highly effective way to reduce the risk that he or she will use alcohol, a new survey shows.
User comments
© Medical Xpress 2011-2014, Science X network
by Stephen Collinson
President Barack Obama Tuesday cheered seven million people who bought into his health care law and lashed out at political foes who were "mad" that more Americans could get insured.
Obama savored a rare moment of triumph in his second term after the Affordable Care Act sign-up process defied skeptics and a rocky launch to hit its enrollment target ahead of a Monday deadline.
"Yes, at times, this reform has been contentious and confusing and obviously it's had a share of critics," Obama told a crowd in the White House Rose Garden.
"That's part of what change looks like in a democracy. Change is hard. Fixing what is broken is hard."
Obama, who has seen the early hopeful euphoria of his presidency drained by a fierce partisan battle with Republicans in Congress, insisted that the law, for which he has paid a heavy political price, had cut costs and widened access.
"But this law is doing what it is supposed to do. It's working," Obama said.
He also took aim at Republicans who have made repeated attempts to repeal Obamacare, in line with a new White House narrative that opponents of the law now actively want to deprive Americans of their new benefits.
"Why are folks working so hard for people not to have health insurance? Why are they so mad about the idea of folks having health insurance?"
Disastrous glitches
The White House said that a total of 7,041,000 people had signed up to plans in the new Obamacare private insurance market place after a late surge ahead of Monday's deadline.
The administration had initially set seven million enrollments as its target—but lost two months of sign-up time to disastrous glitches with the Healthcare.gov website late last year.
Few observers thought that a frantic administration effort to fix the site and reach out to potential customers at the grass roots would succeed.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the seven million figure would rise as more late arriving data flowed into Washington from the states.
The successful late surge in enrollments was just the latest drama for a health care law that cost Obama and his Democrats a large chunk of their political capital, had to be upheld by the Supreme Court and foundered on deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans cleaving the United States.
Republicans to fight on
Republicans however vowed to carry on opposing a law they say has put undue pressure on small businesses, costs jobs and hiked costs for health care consumers.
"All across the country our constituents are having an unpleasant interaction with Obamacare," said Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican.
"Whether they can sign up for a policy or not, they are discovering, of course, higher premiums, a higher deductible," he said.
"Many of them are losing their jobs and so it is really a catastrophe for the country both for the healthcare providers and the consumers."
The law demands that all Americans have health insurance or pay a fine, but offers subsidies for the less well-off to sign up.
It could be months until the full success of the law, the most sweeping social reform in America in decades, can be gaged.
It is unknown how many young people have signed up—an important indicator since they are needed to subsidize higher costs of older, sicker patients.
If Obamacare pools skew too old, the cost of premiums could rise next year.
Also unclear is whether everyone who registered for a health plan actually paid for it.
Another unknown is what percentage of those signing up had no prior coverage—a key metric in assessing if the law helped 40 million Americans who lack insurance.
Explore further: Obama comes out fighting on health care
© 2014 AFP
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
Obama comes out fighting on health care
Dec 03, 2013
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday tried to turn the focus away from the glitch-riven debut of his landmark health care law to its benefits, hoping to reverse a rough political run.
'Obamacare' sign-ups top six million
Mar 27, 2014
More than six million Americans had registered for health insurance under US President Barack Obama's reform by Thursday, fewer than initially hoped but in line with revised projections.
Obama takes satirical hit to chin to sell health care
Mar 11, 2014
US President Barack Obama is trying a new strategy in his struggle to sell his stumbling health care law—self parody.
Obamacare sign-ups hit 4.2 million (Update)
Mar 11, 2014
A further 940,000 Americans registered for President Barack Obama's health care plans in February, bringing to 4.2 million the number of people who have signed up so far, officials said Tuesday.
Health law sign-ups set to meet target
17 hours ago
Jammed phone lines and unreliable websites failed to stop a last-minute rush by hundreds of thousands of Americans trying to sign up for health coverage by the midnight Monday deadline for President Barack ...
Recommended for you
Record number of older adults completing living wills
3 hours ago
A record number of elderly people are completing living wills to guide end-of-life medical treatments – up from 47 percent in 2000 to 72 percent in 2010 – according to new research from the University of Michigan and ...
Levels of sodium intake recommended by CDC associated with harmful health outcomes
4 hours ago
A new study published in the American Journal of Hypertension finds evidence that the average daily sodium intake of most Americans is actually associated with better health outcomes than intake levels currently recommended by the ...
Unvaccinated infants act as 'kindling' to fuel epidemics
9 hours ago
Nearly 4 million children under 5 die from vaccine-preventable diseases worldwide each year, and two University of Michigan doctoral ecology students are working to change that.
Nearly one-third of initial prescriptions remain unfilled
9 hours ago
(HealthDay)—A sizable number of patients fail to fill their initial drug prescriptions, according to research published in the April 1 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Still no clear evidence for health benefits of vitamin D
9 hours ago
Despite a huge number of studies into the role of vitamin D on health, there is still no clear evidence that it has a beneficial effect on many conditions, conclude researchers.
Parental messages that stress no alcohol do get through, survey finds
9 hours ago
(HealthDay)—Making it clear to your teen that underage drinking is unacceptable is a highly effective way to reduce the risk that he or she will use alcohol, a new survey shows.
User comments
© Medical Xpress 2011-2014, Science X network
0 comments:
Post a Comment