Obama Pledges Campaign To Make Sure Health Law Works

As part of an effort to reframe the national discussion, President Barack Obama appeared before health law supporters at an Organizing For Action summit, asking them to help spread the word "far and wide" about the overhaul's good news.   

The New York Times: Obama To Campaign To Ensure Health Law's Success
On the fifth anniversary of his election, President Obama told a rally of grass-roots supporters on Monday evening that "I've got one more campaign in me" -- to make sure his signature health care law works. The president, who has faced four years of Republican attacks against the law in Congress, state capitals and the Supreme Court, sought to reassure about 200 leaders of his Organizing for Action network at its health care summit meeting. His comments followed a month of controversy since the law's health insurance exchanges opened, including the program’s malfunctioning website and complaints about canceled policies (Calmes, 11/4).

The Washington Post: Obama On Health Care: 'I've Got One More Campaign In Me … To Make Sure This Law Works.'
Obama has come under heavy criticism for his promises before the law was passed in 2010 that Americans who were happy with the plans they purchased on the open market could keep them. Since then, millions of people have received notices from their insurers that their plans have been canceled because of the new federal requirements. But at a health care summit of supporters, Obama said the change was necessary because many of those insurance plans would not cover the costs of medical care (Nakamura, 11/4).

Los Angeles Times: Obama Says He's Got One More Campaign In Him: The Fight For Obamacare
President Obama put a new shine on his Obamacare pitch Monday night and asked his most loyal supporters to help him sell it to the American people. Obama urged Organizing for Action volunteers to help him spread "far and wide" the good news of the Affordable Care Act, which he said had always been about "making the insurance market better for everybody" (Reston and Parsons, 11/4).

USA Today: Obama Asks Supporters To Hang Tough On Health Care
Speaking to more than 200 organizers and activists gathered by Organizing for Action, the political group founded by high-ranking alumni of his two political campaigns, Obama began an effort to reframe the public conversation over the Affordable Care Act that has been overshadowed by the problems with the roll-out (Madhani, 11/4).

Politico: Obama's ACA Message Evolves Again
Obama on Monday sought to push back against the most recent tide of inconvenient Obamacare headlines -- tales of insurance companies ending inexpensive individual market plans that provide insufficient coverage under the ACA. Allowing those plans to be changed or sold to new customers, Obama told supporters of his Organizing for Action political arm who gathered in Washington to celebrate and strategize for the implementation of his signature law, would be "breaking an even more important promise" of extending "quality, affordable" health coverage to all (Epstein, 11/4).

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Obama Says People Losing Plans Will Get Better Ones
President Barack Obama tried to beat back criticism of the Affordable Care Act Monday, assuring supporters that those who want coverage will get it and that people who are losing their insurance will end up with better health care plans. After facing a month's worth of complaints about the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov, Mr. Obama found a friendlier crowd in Washington as he appeared at an "Obamacare summit," held by Organizing for Action, the advocacy group that supports the White House's agenda (Nelson, 11/4).

Bloomberg: Obama Enlists Support To Counter Health Care Law Critics
President Barack Obama urged his most loyal supporters to promote the benefits of his health care law, as his White House works to stem the political damage caused by weeks of technical failures and criticism (Lerer, 11/4).

Fox News: Obama Tweaks Message About Keeping Health Plans Under Obamacare
The president told about 200 of his campaign supporters and health care activists Monday that the administration had promised Americans they could keep their current coverage -- as long as their plans hadn't changed since Obamacare was signed into law. "If you have or had one of these plans before the Affordable Care Act came into law and you really liked that plan, what we said was you could keep it if it hasn't changed since the law's passed," Obama said. "So we wrote into the Affordable Care Act you are grandfathered in on that plan. But if the insurance company changes it, then what we're saying is they have got to change it to a higher standard. They've got to make it better" (11/5).