Right before US President Barack Obama undertakes a weeklong visit to Asia, he had appeared at the White House briefing room to defend the success of his signature healthcare law. He also took time to take potshots at his critics from the Republican party, saying that the flaws in the system was being used for campaign purposes in the coming November elections, according to a report from Reuters.
President Obama assured the public in a news conference that the Affordable Care Act was able to recover from its disastrous October launch. He said there are now 8 million enrolled for insurance health coverage, with about 35 percent of these enrollees below the age of 35. This is key, according to the President, as the younger, healthier generation would pay for the premiums needed to cover the higher costs of health care for the elderly enrollees in the program.
He further boasted that under his flagship healthcare law from 2010, the share of insured Americans had increased while healthcare costs have decreased in growth. Now, new benefits and protections are now being enjoyed by hundreds of millions of Americans, including the fact that individuals with pre-existing health conditions would be denied insurance coverage.
In a nutshell, President Obama summed the progress as, "Those days are over. And this thing is working."
One of the major critics is Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. He recently said of the news conference by President Obama, "The president may want to silence any further debate about Obamacare, but in doing so he betrays a lack of confidence in his own policies and scant regard for the most affected by the law."
While President Obama is showing that everything is alright, the said news conference is a confirmation of a more vigorous effort by the White House to provide more campaign push for Democrats for the November polls. Clearly, the campaign has come early for the November elections.
