Obama touts health care law success before Catholic group
President Obama argued Tuesday that Obamacare is now embedded in American history and cannot be repealed. It's the second day in a row he's made the case for his health care law - the Supreme Court is expected to rule on a challenge to the law by the end of the month.
Mr. Obama talked about the law before the Catholic Health Association (CHA), an organization that has consistently supported the law, even as other Catholic groups objected to provisions in the law regarding coverage of contracteption costs. He thanked the head of the group, Sister Carol Keehan for CHA's support.
"I don't know if this is appropriate, but I just told Sister Carol I love her," Obama said. "We would not have gotten the Affordable Care Act done if it were not for her."
In Germany on Monday, Obama said of the Supreme Court challenge, "This should be an easy case," and "Frankly, it probably shouldn't even have been taken up."
At issue are four words in the health care law: "established by the state." Opponents argue that only customers in 14 state-run Obamacare marketplaces are eligible for federal subsidies. If the court does agree with the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell, it could make the health care coverage unaffordable for millions. The ruling could effectively upend the entire health care law, creating an even bigger rift between the mostly-blue states that have embraced aspects of Obamacare and the red states that haven't.
Conservatives argue that Congress explicitly denied subsidies to any customers who buy insurance on the federally-run marketplace. However, both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have acknowledged that this was never their intention.
Addressing critics of Obamacare, the president said they "stubbornly ignore reality." Those critics, who had what he called "constant doom and gloom predictions" and "unending 'Chicken Little' warnings," were wrong about the result.
"Five years in, what we're talking about is no longer just a law. This isn't about the Affordable Care Act. This isn't about Obamacare. This isn't about myths or rumors that won't go away," he said. "This is reality. This is health care in America."