Obama Says Enrollment in Affordable Care Act Reaches 20 Million
By: Gardiner Harris (NY Times) March 2016
MILWAUKEE — President Obama said on Thursday that enrollment in health coverage under the Affordable Care Act had reached a new high, 20 million, and he called the law an overwhelming success in this city and around the nation despite Republicans’ implacable opposition.
“Congressional Republicans have tried and failed to repeal Obamacare about 60 times,” Mr. Obama said to an audience here. “They have told you what they would replace it with about zero times.”
He continued, his voice rising: “If they got their way, 20 million people would have their insurance taken away from them. Twenty million people!”
The 20 million figure includes people who have received private health insurance on exchanges, those who gained Medicaid coverage under state expansions and young adults who were able to stay on their parents’ health plans until age 26, the administration said.
In its last comparable estimate, in September, the administration said 17.6 million uninsured people had gained coverage.
Mr. Obama’s trip was intended to reward Milwaukee, which won a nationwide competition called Healthy Communities by enrolling an estimated 38,376 people in private health insurance under the health care law. That was about 75 percent of previously uninsured residents who were eligible, a rate higher than that of any other city.
The law has been particularly successful in places like Milwaukee, where a coalition of local leaders, charities and health care companies have worked to sign up those who did not have health insurance.
Average insurance premiums in the city fell 2.1 percent for 2016 plans, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. “It’s an example of what community outreach can do even in the face of a governor who is not supportive of the A.C.A.,” said Drew Altman, the president and chief executive of the foundation, which focuses on health issues.
Wisconsin’s Republican governor, Scott Walker, who has disparaged the health law, expanded the state’s Medicaid program just short of the level that would allow the state to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid.
Mr. Walker has argued that federal funding is uncertain over the long term. “If anyone thinks the federal government, which is currently $18 trillion in debt, will not renege on its future funding promises, they are not living in reality,” Laurel Patrick, the governor’s press secretary, said in an email.
But no state would save more money by further expanding Medicaid than Wisconsin, according to an estimate by the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, a nonprofit group.
“Your governor still refuses to expand Medicaid, which, by the way, actually would save money,” Mr. Obama said. “He’s denying Wisconsinites their ticket to health insurance, and it’s political.”
The Milwaukee county executive, Chris Abele, a Democrat, said in a speech on Thursday that city leaders were pleased to win the Health Communities contest, but that it was not the motivation for their efforts.
“We did it because thousands of people in this county who never had health care before do now,” Mr. Abele said. “We also did it because the Affordable Care Act has already saved — I wrote that in big, bold letters — saved the county over $2 million.”
Before Mr. Obama’s address at a middle school, he stopped at a restaurant, Engine Company 3, to speak to a handful of people who had written letters to him about the law. Among them was Brent Brown, of Mosinee, Wis., a Republican who later introduced the president to a raucous crowd of about 700 at the school.
“To be clear, I have never voted for President Obama,” he said. “Ever.”
Mr. Brown said that the health law had saved his life after he became desperately ill.
“And to the Republicans who wish to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I plead with you to reconsider,” Mr. Brown said. “Swallow your pride — as I am doing right now in front of many Democrats — and do what is right.”
Mr. Obama said that as many as 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions could no longer be charged more or denied coverage because of that prior illness, and that 140 million Americans now got free preventive care such as mammograms.
“So your insurance is better than it was even if you don’t know it, even if you didn’t vote for me. Thanks, Obama,” he said to a roar of laughter. “You got an upgrade.”
Categories
- Benefits Resources
- Bonding
- BOP
- Business Insurance
- Commercial Auto
- Commercial Property
- Company News
- Construction
- Crime Insurance
- Cyber Insurance
- Directors & Officers
- Employee Benefits
- Employment Practice Liability Insurance
- Entertainment
- General Liability
- Health Insurance
- Healthcare
- Healthcare Reform
- Homeowners Insurance
- Hospitality
- Manufacturing
- Medical Malpractice
- Mining & Energy
- Nightclubs
- Personal Auto
- Personal Insurance
- Professional
- Restaurants
- Retail & Wholesale
- Risk Management Resources
- Safety Topics
- SBA Bonds
- Security
- Seminars
- Technology
- Tourism
- Transportation
- Uncategorized
- Workers Compensation
Archives
- May 2021
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- November 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- February 2013
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- March 2011
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- April 2010
- February 2010
- November 2009
- October 2009
- November 2008
- August 2008