Obama touts health care reform law's benefits
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While warning of “glitches and bumps” ahead, the benefits of the health care reform law far outweigh problems, President Barack Obama said Tuesday.
“We're going to be able to drive down costs. We are going to able to improve efficiencies in the system. We're going to see people benefit from better health care. And that will save the country money as a whole over the long term,” he said at a White House news conference.
President Obama said that those with health insurance coverage already are reaping benefits from changes mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
“Their insurance is more secure. Insurance companies can't drop them for bad reasons. Their kids are able to stay on their (parents') health insurance (plans) until they're 26 years old. They're getting free preventive care,” he said.
President Obama acknowledged that it is a challenge to set up insurance exchanges where the uninsured will be able to use health care reform-provided premium subsidies to buy coverage from participating insurers.
“That's still a big complicated piece of business,” he said.
And that challenge becomes even harder when “you've got half of Congress who is determined to try to block implementation,” he said.
That said, “We've got a great team in place. We are pushing very hard to make sure that we're hitting all the deadlines and the benchmarks,” he said.
President Obama's comments come a week after Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., warned that the public exchanges, which are supposed to offer coverage starting Jan. 1, 2014, are headed for a “train wreck.”
Shortly after he made that assessment, Sen. Baucus announced he would not seek re-election next year.
