On the 13th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) becoming law, President Biden spoke from the White House Thursday calling Obamacare the most consequential piece of healthcare legislation since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.
Biden says it has translated into a total of 40.2 million Americans enrolled in quality care for families, including critical coverage of services like cancer detection.
The President also touted things like lower prescription drug costs and increased access to mental health care coverage.
Yet more than a decade later, the legislation remains politically polarizing.
In an interview about the anniversary of ACA, ABC15 talked with the White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton asking, "Is there a way to come up with something that's a little more bipartisan?"
Dalton responded, "Well, look, the Affordable Care Act. We think that's something that everybody should be able to get on board with. So we think that the question is really with congressional Republicans, why do you want to put the Affordable Care Act on the chopping block? Why do you want to cut Medicaid, which is providing crucial services to people across the country?"
Madison Warren, a nurse practitioner from Phoenix tells us, "When I was in nursing school I didn't work full time so I didn't have health insurance. I had to use something off of the marketplace. It was an interesting experience, not user-friendly."
Warren also tells us the healthcare plan was expensive.
"Like $700 a month for health insurance was not exceedingly affordable. It's low cost if you have a very low income."
Warren also says she struggled to find a doctor who takes the plan and that booking an appointment took months.
"I actually had a lot of snags with this, that I wasn't used to having because I had previously had employer-provided health care insurance. So, there was a couple times where I was not accepted by people that I had seen before. So I had to look for alternative providers."
When these concerns were shared with the White House Deputy Press Secretary she tells ABC15, she responded:
"We need to do more and the President knows that. He's looking for those in Congress who agree that Americans deserve affordable, low-cost quality health care to work with them."
