President Obama on Thursday will look to inspire more people to enroll in the Affordable Care Act, at a time when the program is still struggling to attract the younger, healthier enrollees it needs to stay viable in the future.
In a speech at Miami Dade College, the president is expected to praise the law’s biggest successes, such as its expansion of coverage to 20 million Americans, its subsidies that help make plans more affordable for lower-income earners and new requirements on insurers to accept patients with serious medical conditions and cover certain essential and preventive health services.
“Eight years ago, candidate Obama promised that he would make quality, affordable healthcare not a privilege, but a right,” said a White House statement that was released before the speech. ”
After decades of trying by presidents of both parties, President Obama made healthcare reform a reality.”
Yet Obama is also delivering his speech during a tough time for the law. Its marketplaces are struggling with big rate hikes and reduced competition caused by insurers that are abandoning the program. And while the law has largely taken a backseat in this election cycle, it has sharply divided Democrats and Republicans for years and prompted dozens of efforts to repeal it and numerous high-profile Supreme Court hearings.
Obama is expected to discuss the fourth marketplace enrollment period, which starts Nov. 1, and his administration’s effort to sign up more young, healthy people for coverage, according to a White House statement. He will also reflect on what he views as the law’s biggest successes and other ongoing reforms in the healthcare system.
But he may also reiterate his call for a government-funded “public option” plan as a way to improve competition in the insurance marketplaces. Over the summer, he published a piece in the Journal of the American Medical Association calling for such a plan. And on Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell called on Congress to pass a public option as part of a speech announcing 2017 enrollment goals.
The White House release ahead of the speech lists a public option among several other “common-sense ways to continue to improve the [Affordable Care Act].” The ideas also include convincing the 19 remaining states without Medicaid expansion to get on board, passing reforms to lower the cost of prescription drugs and providing more insurance subsidies.
