President Obama Joined President Biden at White House Event to Celebrate Success of the ACA
This afternoon, former President Obama joined President Biden and Vice President Harris at the White House to celebrate the success of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and ongoing efforts to improve the health care law and cut costs for families. During the event, President Biden announced new measures to strengthen the ACA, including a proposed fix to the “family glitch,” which will lower health care costs for more than one million Americans. Coverage makes clear that the Biden administration’s efforts to build on the ACA have worked — with record enrollment and lower premium costs than ever before. Now, President Biden is continuing to use every tool at his disposal to provide American families with quality, affordable coverage.
Washington Post: ‘I Had To Show Up,’ Obama Says As He Joins Biden To Celebrate The ACA. “Today, former president Barack Obama was back at the White House, reliving the bruising battle to pass the Affordable Care Act and celebrating that it’s ‘pretty darn popular’ 12 years later…Biden signed an executive order to further expand access by addressing a ‘glitch’ in Obama’s signature health-care law and vowed to continue to ‘build on’ the ACA in the years ahead.” [Washington Post, 4/5/22]
Wall Street Journal: Biden Proposes Change To Affordable Care Act To Extend Subsidies For Families. “About five million people are affected by the so-called family glitch, and under the proposed change they will have more options for insurance coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Additionally, an estimated 200,000 uninsured people are expected to gain coverage under the proposed change by the Treasury Department and nearly 1 million people will get more affordable coverage, U.S. officials said. The proposed rule, if it is approved by federal regulators, would go into effect Jan. 1, 2023.” [Wall Street Journal, 4/5/22]
Time: President Biden Moves To Fix A ‘Glitch’ In The Affordable Care Act. “‘It’s a huge deal,’ says Katie Keith, director of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative at Georgetown Law’s O’Neill Institute. ‘It’s one of the biggest things the Biden Administration can do on its own to expand coverage.’ About 5.1 million people across the country fall into the family glitch…Most of these are women and children. Not all of these people would choose to switch their plans immediately, but the White House estimates that 1 million people would move to cheaper ACA health plans if the rule takes effect, and 200,000 uninsured Americans would gain comprehensive coverage.” [Time, 4/5/22]
AP: Biden, Obama Mark 12 Years Of The Affordable Care Act At The White House. “Biden opened up the health insurance markets to anyone seeking coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, and his coronavirus relief bill provided a significant, though temporary, increase in financial assistance. The result was a record 14.5 million people signing up for subsidized private coverage. People tripped up by the “family glitch” are dependents of workers who have an offer of employer coverage that the government interprets as being affordable.” [AP, 4/5/22]
Reuters: Obama And Biden Reunite At White House To Tout Obamacare, New Provision. “The White House said the proposed adjustment to the Affordable Care Act, put forward in a rule by the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service that must be finalized, would save hundreds of dollars a month for hundreds of thousands of families. It said the ‘family glitch’ affects some five million people and ‘has made it impossible for many families to use the premium tax credit to purchase an affordable, high-quality Marketplace plan.’” [Reuters, 4/5/22]
USA Today: With Obama’s Help, Biden Announces Proposed Fix To ACA’s ‘Family Glitch’. “The change, which would go into effect as early as next year, could allow an estimated 200,000 people without insurance to gain coverage, according to the White House…The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 5.1 million people are affected by how the IRS initially wrote the regulation when interpreting the ACA. Most have insurance through an employer but are paying high premiums.” [USA Today, 4/5/22]
CBS: Obama Returns To White House For Health Care Event With Biden. “A new rule proposed by the Treasury Department would enable family members who must pay more than 10% of their income for health care coverage to get financial help. ‘As a result, 200,000 uninsured people are expected to gain coverage and nearly a million more are expected to see lower premiums every day,’ a senior administration official told reporters on a background call.” [CBS, 4/5/22]
NBC: Biden, Joined By Obama, Proposes Tax Credit Fix To Affordable Care Act. “‘Starting next year, working families in America will get the help they need to afford full family coverage, everyone in the family,’ Biden said at a White House event promoting the law and announcing the change. ‘As a result, families will be saving hundreds of dollars a month.’” The Treasury Department proposal would allow families to receive tax credits if their coverage costs exceed more than 10 percent of their incomes, a senior administration official told reporters. The change, scheduled to take effect in January, would allow 200,000 uninsured people to gain coverage and lower premiums for a million others, the official said. [NBC, 4/5/22]
Yahoo News: Obama Returns To White House For Celebration Of Affordable Care Act As Biden Announces Changes To Law. “Biden announced changes to the plan in an attempt to expand it to more Americans. One tweak that can be authorized by the Treasury Department is fixing a ‘family glitch’ that would mean lower premiums for some Americans, while others would become eligible for subsidized insurance plans.” [Yahoo News, 4/5/22]