With hugs, laughs and good-natured ribbing, Barack Obama on Wednesday returned to the White House for the first time in more than five years to savour the 12th anniversary of his signature health care law and give a boost to President Joe Biden’s efforts to expand it.
The Affordable Care Act has survived repeated repeal attempts by Republicans.
Biden, who was Obama's No. 2 when “Obamacare” became law in March 2010, wants to extend the law's reach to even more than the current millions. He gave all the credit for the original law to the former president.
“It's because of you,” Biden said after good-naturedly introducing himself as Obama's vice president. Biden said the law “shows hope leads to change," a play on Obama's “hope and change” campaign slogan.
Obama was last at the White House on January 20, 2017, when he left to escort Donald Trump, the successor bent on overturning the law, to the Capitol to be inaugurated.
“It's good to be back in the White House. It's been awhile," he said after Vice President Kamala Harris introduced him in the East Room. Obama opened by referring to Biden as “vice president" before acknowledging that was a “set up” joke and embracing his former No. 2.
Obama said he and Biden accomplished "a lot” in their eight years but “nothing made me prouder than providing better health care and more protections to millions of people across this country.”
“The ACA was an example of why you run for office in the first place,” Obama said, calling it the “high point of my time here.”
The former US president reunited with Joe Biden to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. (Source: 1News)
Biden called the Affordable Care Act the most consequential legislation since Medicare and Medicaid were created in 1965, and insisted it must be expanded to more people.
“We can do this. We should do this. We have to do this,” Biden said. He said the law has been called a lot of things, “but Obamacare is the most fitting.”
Biden and Obama marked the 12th anniversary of the law, which back in 2010 the then-vice president had memorably whispered to Obama was a “big (expletive) deal" -- words captured on an open microphone.
At Wednesday's event, Biden signed an executive order to close a “family glitch” in implementation of the 2010 law that his administration believes will help 200,000 more people gain affordable coverage.
Before signing the order, Biden jokingly warned Obama. “Let me remind you, it’s a hot mic."
Obama warmed up the crowd with a few dead-pan jokes about how things around the White House had changed under Biden, leaning into the current occupant’s affinity for sunglasses and ice cream and his taste in pets.
He quipped that Secret Service agents now have to wear aviator sunglasses, the White House mess has been replaced by a Baskin-Robbins and “there’s a cat running around.”
“I guarantee you Bo and Sunny would have been very unhappy about it,” Obama added, referencing the his family's dogs.
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