President Barack Obama took a victory lap Wednesday, celebrating the fifth anniversary of his signature health care law and proclaiming that it’s succeeded despite persistent Republican efforts to “repeal, undermine, defund and defame” the law.
“The bottom line is this for the American people: The Affordable Care Act, this law, is saving money for families and for businesses,” Obama said at a White House event, surrounded by doctors and patients.
He said the law was not “the job-killer that critics have warned about for five years. When this law was passed, our businesses began the longest streak of private-sector job growth on record: 60 straight months, five straight years, 12 million new jobs.”
And he credited the law with slowing health care prices and helping to cut the deficit.
“We have been promised a lot of things these past five years that didn’t turn out to be the case: death panels, doom,” he said to laughter, chiding Republicans as he added, “A serious alternative from Republicans.”
Republicans remained unmoved: “No matter how much President Obama spins his unpopular health care law so Hillary Clinton can run for his third term, middle class Americans are still being saddled with higher premiums, higher taxes, fewer work hours, and cancelled plans,” said Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short.
Obama maintained the law has improved access to care, helping to reduce hospital readmission rates: “It’s a major reason why we’ve seen 50,000 fewer preventable patient deaths in hospitals,” he said.
“It’s making health coverage more affordable and more effective for all of us,” Obama said. “And in a lot of ways, it’s working better than many of us, including me, anticipated.”
Republicans remain committed to repealing the controversial law and Obama refuted the effort, ticking off the law’s provisions one by one -- including not being charged more or denied coverage for a preexisting condition.
“It’s the end of the discrimination against the sick in America, and all of us are sick sometimes,” he said.
He noted that although only 28 governors -- “so far” -- have elected to expand Medicaid, more than 16 million uninsured Americans now have health care coverage.
“In just over one year, the ranks of the uninsured have dropped by nearly one-third,” he said.
He boasted that the life of the Medicare Trust Fund has been extended by 13 years since the law was passed, noting “there were fears promoted that somehow this was going to undermine Medicare.”
He noted Congress was working to fix the Medicare physician payment system and said he was ready to sign it into law.