Obama defends Obamacare, acknowledges problems with the law

President Barack Obama delivered a robust defense of Obamacare on Thursday, but also acknowledged his signature domestic achievement needs fixes as premiums rise and insurers are fleeing the law.

Obama hailed the achievements of the federal health care law six years after passage, providing coverage to an additional 20 million Americans and reducing the uninsured rate to the lowest level ever recorded. And he sought to remind Americans that they likely benefit from the law's consumer protections, even though just a small fraction of the country actually buys coverage from Obamacare's insurance marketplaces.


“The Affordable Care Act has done what it was designed to do,” Obama said during a nearly hourlong speech at Miami Dade College. “It gave us affordable health care. So what’s the problem? Why is there still such a fuss? Well, part of the problem is a Democratic president named Barack Obama passed the law. That’s just the truth.”

But Obamacare has been beset by bad news in recent months that goes beyond partisan griping. A trio of national insurers are largely abandoning the exchanges. Premiums are soaring in states across the country, in some cases by more than 50 percent. Enrollment in the Obamacare markets is stuck at roughly half what was projected.

Republicans have seized on the law's struggles as validation of their doomsday predictions about its viability. Even Democrats are struggling to defend the law. Former President Bill Clinton this month railed against ongoing affordability concerns for middle-income Americans, and Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton recently made national headlines by declaring that the Affordable Care Act is “no longer affordable" for too many.

Obama conceded that the law has encountered “growing pains," but he said the problems of Obamacare's insurance marketplaces only apply to a small segment of the population who can't get coverage elsewhere.

“Just because a lot of the Republican criticism has proven to be false and politically motivated doesn’t mean there aren’t some legitimate concerns about how the law is working now,” he said.

Obama renewed calls for every state to expand Medicaid, which 19 states have refused to do. Roughly 4 million low-income Americans would be eligible for coverage if every state adopted Medicaid expansion.

In addition, Obama reiterated support for a government-run insurance plan that could bolster competition in the Obamacare marketplaces. Without offering specifics, Obama also called for additional subsidies to make coverage more affordable. Both ideas have encountered strong resistance from Republicans.

Obama also argued that the time has long since passed for Republicans on Capitol Hill to engage in meaningful discussions about how to bolster the law, rather than simply calling for it to be repealed wholesale — as has been their mantra for the past six years.

“Repealing the Affordable Care Act will not work,” Obama said. “That’s a bad idea. That will not solve the problem.”

The president even offered to ditch the moniker of his biggest — and most controversial — domestic achievement if it would persuade Republicans to move on from their repeal efforts.

“They can even change the name of the law to ReaganCare,” Obama joked. “Or they can call it Paul-RyanCare. I don’t care about credit. I just want it to work.”

The Obama administration will have one last chance to strengthen the insurance marketplaces when open enrollment begins Nov. 1. Obamacare allies are redoubling efforts to target potential Obamacare customers under the age of 35. Despite three years of outreach efforts, the share of young adults has stubbornly remained below 30 percent. Roughly 40 percent of the remaining potential Obamacare customers are between the ages of 18 and 34.

"The more young and healthy people like you who do the smart thing and sign up, the better it's going to work for everyone," Obama implored students.