On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama announced that over 7.1 million Americans have signed up under his pet healthcare law over the last six months to March 30. The announcement seemed to have squashed initial thoughts that the Affordable Care Act was a failure that Obama cannot help but declare that the healthcare law was here to stay.
"The bottom line is this: the share of Americans with insurance is up, and the growth in the cost of insurance is down. There's no good reason to go back," Obama had said in the Rose Garden alongside Vice President Biden.
The Washington Post said the figure was based on the number of individuals who enrolled for healthcare coverage through a new federal insurance marketplace that is operating in 36 states across the US plus enrollments from 14 state-run marketplaces. The figure also indicated how the Obama administration's campaign effectively worked in the last few weeks leading to the deadline.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney credited the high enrollment was due to the fact that behind all of the scrutiny of Americans and interest groups regarding the product, it was clear that they all wanted the product all along.
Obama, in his Rose Garden speech, reminded everyone about the point of the healthcare law, which was to require all US citizens to have health coverage. Although he admitted that there are still issues in the country's health care system, Obama reasoned that the Affordable Care Act is not a one, giant solution to address all health care problems.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the figures does not present the fact that the American people is sure about the product. "We don't know of course, exactly what they have signed up for, we don't know how many have paid. What we do know is that all across the country our constituents are having an unpleasant interaction with Obamacare. Whether they can sign up for a policy or not, they are discovering, of course, higher premiums, a higher deductible. 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."
