Joe Biden turns to Barack Obama to help encourage Americans to sign up for Obamacare health plan
- Biden used his weekly address for a brief Zoom chat with Obama to draw attention to the six-month expanded enrolment period that closes on August 15
- The Supreme Court is soon expected to rule on a challenge to the health law from Texas and other GOP-led states
Biden used his weekly address for a brief Zoom chat with Obama to draw attention to the six-month expanded enrolment period that closes on August 15. Meanwhile, the government released a report that claims that nearly 31 million Americans – a record – now have health coverage through Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act.
“We did this together,” said Obama, whose administration established the health insurance marketplace. “We always talked about how, if we could get the principle of universal coverage established, we could then build on it.”
The White House effort to spotlight the expanded enrolment period and claim strong numbers for the Obama-era health care law comes as the political world and the health care system await a Supreme Court ruling on the law’s constitutionality.
The Health and Human Services Department said in a report that nearly 31 million have obtained coverage in 2021 as a result of the law. That is considerably higher than the more than 20 million estimate that is commonly cited.
The Biden administration has launched a special Covid-19 pandemic sign-up period, and Congress passed a big boost in subsidies for private health plans sold under the law. But that alone does not explain the increased coverage.
