TWO VIEWS
“I’ve said before, I will always work with anyone who is willing to make this law work even better. But the debate over repealing this law is over. The Affordable Care Act is here to stay.”
President Barack Obama
“Every promise the president made has been broken: health care costs are rising, not falling. Americans are losing the doctors and plans that they like … Small businesses are afraid to hire new workers, hobbling our economic growth. That’s why we must replace this fundamentally flawed law.”
Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio
President Barack Obama said Tuesday that 7.1 million people have signed up for insurance under his health care law, an unexpected comeback after a disastrous rollout sent his poll numbers plummeting and stirred fears among Democrats facing re-election this fall.
“The debate over repealing this law is over,” he declared. It’s “here to stay.”
Republicans were unmoved by the numbers, noting that the White House still hasn’t answered questions about the enrollees, including how many have actually paid their premiums.
Also unclear is how many were previously uninsured — the real test of Obama’s health care overhaul. The law also expanded coverage for low-income people through Medicaid, but only about half of the states have agreed to implement that option.
The administration also hasn’t yet released an updated demographic breakdown of enrollees, such as the number of younger people whose participation is critical to the law’s success.
Despite lingering problems with the website, a wave of enrollments over the past few days pushed sign-ups higher than critics and even the White House had thought possible.
The president’s announcement may do little to change the political dynamics heading into the midterm elections, particularly for Democrats running in conservative states where the health law and the president himself remain unpopular. Even Obama’s advisers acknowledge that the public’s views on the law are unlikely to shift significantly between now and November.
Still, with millions of people now receiving health benefits under the law, Democrats see an opportunity to undercut Republicans still pushing to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And GOP lawmakers, wary of overplaying their political hand, are indeed grappling with whether to press forward with repeal or narrow their focus on replacing the law with different health measures.
In a preview of his party’s midterm messaging, Obama declared that while the health law isn’t perfect, “the Affordable Care Act is here to stay.”
“Why are folks working so hard for people to not have health insurance? Why are they so mad about the idea of people having health insurance?” he asked a group of administration officials and supportive members of Congress in the White House Rose Garden.
Underscoring his point, Obama quoted from letters he said he had received from people helped by the law.
But Republicans responded with their own quotes from people complaining about rapidly rising rates.
“The band may be playing in the White House, but hearts aren’t light for Americans struggling to afford Obamacare’s higher costs,” said a release from the Senate Republican Communications Center.
The president’s remarks came six months after his administration botched the start of the long-planned enrollment period for the insurance marketplaces at the center of the landmark law.
The enrollment website was riddled with technical problems, and a flurry of private policy cancellations forced Obama to recant his pledge that Americans who liked their health insurance plans could keep them.
The Congressional Budget Office, which had originally estimated that 7 million people would enroll in the health exchanges this year, lowered those expectations to 6 million after the website woes. Even inside the White House, that first estimate looked out of reach until recently.
Politically, the law has created huge headaches for some Democrats facing re-election in November, helping to wipe away any hopes the party had for taking control of the House and putting its Senate majority in jeopardy.
Most public polling shows the law’s opponents outnumber supporters, and nearly all surveys show it attracts few backers outside the ranks of the Democratic Party. For example, just 3 percent of Republicans and 12 percent of independents said they backed it in the latest AP-GfK poll. Democrats have also lost their advantage as the party more trusted to handle health care.
However, polling also suggests that most Americans oppose repealing the law and instead favor changes, a strategy that some Republican leaders have embraced. Among their considerations: whether to offer a comprehensive proposal or piecemeal measures, as well as whether to keep the more popular elements of Obama’s law, such as leaving children on their parents’ plans until age 26.
But the desire among other Republicans to fully dismantle Obama’s signature achievement remains tempting, especially for tea party members who have significant clout in the House. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, declared Monday that Republicans will keep working to repeal the law, and he announced another vote this week to undo a portion.
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