President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama have joined forces on a video pledging to preserve and expand the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, following comments by former President Donald Trump about reviving his efforts to make massive changes to the plan if reelected.
The White House shared the video on social media on Friday in an effort to encourage open enrollment in the ACA exchanges.
“Yes, Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, Bidencare, whatever you call it—yes, it is still a thing,” says President Obama. “The other side’s been trying to repeal it every year since it’s existed, but we’ll keep fighting to protect it.”
“Not just protect it but expand it, saving millions of dollars for working families. We’re covering more people than ever,” President Biden adds.
The former president attempted to repeal the law in 2017 during his administration but was eventually blocked by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
“We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it,” he wrote, referring to the late Mr. McCain. “It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!”
Democrats have made a number of mentions of the remark ever since.
The same message is reiterated in the new video despite President Trump’s insistence that he prefers to improve health coverage over repealing the ACA.
The ACA’s open enrollment period for insurance began on Nov. 1, and the deadline to sign up for new coverage is Jan. 16, 2024, according to the White House’s caption on the video.
In October, a report issued by Paragon Health Institute outlined details about enrollment, indicating that the data does not show positive trends for the program.
In 2013 the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that they believed that around 40 million Americans would enroll in health plans through the ACA by 2021. According to the CBO only about 21 million enrolled in the program as of 2021.
