Former president Barack Obama has said that in the future, his landmark legislation, the Affordable Care Act should be extended. He argued that it should be viewed as a first step to better healthcare.
“We’re not finished yet,” Obama said in a video promoting the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago next year. “I’ve always said that the ACA is like a starter house, it was a big step forward, but still just a first step. Now it’s up to all of us to keep building on and improving the ACA.”
Obama’s caption for the video, which was on X argued that “people should keep fighting for progress.”
I know that sometimes it feels like we are in a completely different time. In fact, 15 years ago I passed the Affordable Care Act. Obama stated that nearly 50 million people now receive health care thanks to the ACA. Obama said: “With all that’s going on, it can be easy to think regular people cannot make a change. But the Affordable Care Act reminds us that we are capable of making a positive difference when we continue fighting for progress.”
Under the leadership of Donald Trump, it seems unlikely that the ACA will be expanded despite the pleas of Obama.
Trump, the man who succeeded Obama at the White House in 2016 after the election victory, tried to repeal this legislation in 2017. However, the effort was ultimately unsuccessful in the Senate.
Trump targeted ACA once more with the landmark 2017 “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”, which passed into law and included a provision to eliminate the ACA’s controversial individual mandate.
Obama expressed optimism, however, that Americans would work together to continue the legislative reforms he introduced in 2010.
“If it could happen 15 years ago, it can happen again,” Obama said. “The ACA taught us that some things are larger than politics.”