When Did Obama Be President Again
Obama returns to White House to help Biden push button Affordable Care Human activity
"It's good to exist dorsum at the White Firm," Obama said from the East Room.
For the commencement time since leaving office, former President Barack Obama returned to the White House on Tuesday to join his former vice president -- Joe Biden -- in promoting the Affordable Health Care Human action he signed into law 12 years ago.
Obama joined Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to deliver remarks on the Affordable Care Act, with Harris speaking commencement to applaud the anniversary and introduce the old president. Obama received a standing ovation and told a packed East Room, "It's good to exist dorsum at the White House."
Earlier addressing the landmark legislation of his presidency, Obama cracked a few jokes, equally he frequently did every bit president, opening his remarks by thanking "Vice President Biden."
"That was a joke. That was all set up-upward," Obama said to laughter, walking back to give Biden a hug.
"I confess, I heard some changes accept been made by the current president since I was last here," Obama continued. "Evidently, Secret Service agents have to wearable Aviator spectacles at present. The Navy mess has been replaced by a Baskin-Robbins. And there's a cat running around, which I guarantee Boyfriend and Sunny would have been very unhappy about," he said to laughter, referring to the Obamas' dogs.
The sometime president then pivoted to the purpose of his visit: to celebrate 12 years of the Affordable Care Act, saying information technology'southward "an example of why you run for function in the first identify."
"We're not supposed to practice this just to occupy a seat or to hang on to power. We're supposed to exercise this because it's making a divergence in the lives of the people who sent us here," Obama said, before introducing Biden.
"My name is Joe Biden, and I'g Barack Obama's vice president," Biden said, prompting more laughter in the room. "Information technology feels like the good former days -- being here with yous brings dorsum and so many good memories."
"Permit's exist honest, the Affordable Care Act has been called a lot of things, simply Obamacare is the most fitting," Biden added with apparent pride, "Obamacare."
He went on to announce new steps the Biden assistants is taking to build on the Affordable Care Act, including a new executive gild directing federal agencies "to practice everything in their ability" to expand coverage and make information technology easier to enroll, which he signed after his remarks, also as a proposed rule from the Treasury Section to fix the ACA's so-called "family unit glitch."
"Once today'south proposed rule is finalized, starting next twelvemonth, working families in America will get the help they need to afford full family unit coverage," Biden said. "With this alter, it's estimated that 200,000 before long uninsured Americans are going to gain coverage. About one one thousand thousand Americans will see their coverage go more affordable."
Biden also urged Congress to have action to keep the expansions his administration has put in place under the American Rescue Plan intact and pitched to Americans to go on upward the fight to prevent Republicans from trying, once more, to repeal the ACA.
"If Republicans take their style, it ways 100 meg Americans with pre-existing conditions can once again be denied health care coverage by their insurance companies. That'southward what the law was before Obamacare. In addition, tens of millions of Americans could lose their coverage, including young people who will no longer be able to stay on their parent's insurance policy until age 26," Biden said.
"We demand to keep upward the fight," he added, calling out the GOP for its "unrelenting" entrada confronting the ACA.
Biden went back to poking fun at himself earlier signing the executive order, recalling back to when he was caught on hot mic dorsum in 2010 telling Obama the ACA was "a large f****** deal."
"And Barack, let me remind you -- it'due south a hot mic," Biden said to laughter.
Previewing Tuesday'southward remarks, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that Obama and Biden would as well have lunch at the White House Tuesday -- "every bit they used to do on a weekly basis" -- and added, "They go along to talk regularly."
"They are real friends, non but Washington friends, and and so I'm sure they will talk about events in the earth as well as their families and personal lives," Psaki said.
The visit from the pop former president comes as Biden struggles in the polls over his handling of 40-year-high aggrandizement and soaring gas prices he'south pinned to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Psaki said it's "exactly the right fourth dimension to have the quondam president come up here -- given this is 1 of the proudest accomplishments that they worked on together, they shared together."
"And information technology is emblematic of their shared view and belief that government can piece of work for people and it can work for the American people. And this is an example of building on a success from more than x years ago and making it better over fourth dimension," she added.
Psaki besides said to expect Obama to return to the White House again presently for his presidential portrait unveiling "and perchance other engagements hither in the hereafter," she said.
Since Biden took role, the administration helped to lower health intendance premiums for nine 1000000 Americans through the American Rescue Plan, Psaki noted Mon, "the biggest expansion of affordable wellness care since the ACA."
"We've made affordable health coverage more than accessible during the pandemic through the opening of the special enrollment period, which enabled nigh three million Americans to accept access to newly sign upward for coverage under the ACA," she said. "And President Biden has overseen the most successful open enrollment in history terminal twelvemonth with the historic 14.5 meg Americans signing up for ACA coverage and another million people signing upwardly for the bones wellness care program."
Tuesday marked Biden and Obama'due south commencement joint appearance since attending the 20th anniversary of the Sept. eleven attacks terminal fall in New York and their first joint event in Washington since Biden'southward inauguration in January 2021.
When the pair celebrated the ACA's passage 12 years ago last month, Biden was caught on hot mic applauding Obama at the White House for what he called "a large f------ deal."
Paraphrasing the memorable moment, a senior administration official told reporters, on what Biden announced, "to borrow a phrase, this rule is a -- is a large deal."
"We think it'due south the most significant administrative activity to improve implementation of the ACA that nosotros've taken since the law was first implemented," the official added.
The dominion would begin to accept consequence get-go Jan. 1, 2023, and Americans will exist able to sign upward to get fiscal assistance during the adjacent open enrollment period.
Equally of final year, almost 31 1000000 Americans had health care coverage through the ACA, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
ABC's Karen Travers reports:
ABC News' Molly Nagle and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-return-white-house-health-care-event-lunch/story?id=83866893
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