Biden, Obama Tout ACA Ahead of Fundraiser Next Week

The Washington Post / Yasmeen Abutaleb

15:49 JST, March 24, 2024

President Biden, former president Barack Obama and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared together in a video released by the Biden campaign Saturday celebrating the 14th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, and warned that Republican nominee Donald Trump would again try to overturn the law if he wins a second term this November.

The joint appearance comes as Biden is set to appear with Obama and former president Bill Clinton at a high-profile fundraiser at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on Thursday. Biden in recent weeks has ramped up his attacks on Trump as both men secured their party’s nominations earlier this month.

“Like any freedom, we can’t take this one for granted. Right now, the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party for president says he still wants to repeal the entirety of the ACA,” Obama said in the video. “That would mean kicking millions of young people off their parents’ health insurance, raising costs at a time when a lot of folks are just starting out. We need to keep building on the ACA – expanding coverage and lowering costs for more people.”

Biden also touted the law’s benefits and reminded viewers that Trump has promised to try again to repeal the law, which would mean millions of Americans could lose their health insurance if he wins in November.

“We also have to remind ourselves – we can’t take anything for granted,” Biden said, adding Republicans had voted “50 times” to try to repeal the law. “We’re determined as ever to defend and strengthen the Affordable Care Act – and to make health care a right – not a privilege in America.”

The Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, expanded health care to millions of Americans through an expansion of Medicaid and the creation of an individual marketplace where people can purchase health insurance, often with the assistance of government subsidies. It also allows young people to stay on their parents’ health-care plans until they are 26 and prohibits health plans from discriminating against those with preexisting conditions.

The White House said in January that more than 20 million people signed up for Obamacare plans in 2024, a sign of the law’s durability despite repeated Republican efforts to weaken it.

Biden has a significant cash advantage over Trump in the 2024 campaign, though several recent polls show Biden trailing the former president in key swing states. Biden notched record fundraising receipts in February with donations from nearly half a million people, overcoming poor polling to end the month with $155 million in the bank.