Obama’s Health Law Victory Tour Goes To Tennessee
Fresh from a big Supreme Court win, President Barack Obama talked about the health law's achievements to date and expressed hope that some of the poisoned politics that have surrounded this sweeping overhaul will now be set aside to focus on improvements and refinements. One of his central messages had to do with Medicaid expansion.
The New York Times:
Obama Takes Health Care Momentum Into G.O.P. Territory
Days after the Supreme Court delivered a victory for his health care law for the second time, President Obama flew into mostly Republican territory on Wednesday and began an aggressive push to get states that have resisted parts of the law to expand care to more of their poor residents. (Harris and Goodnough, 7/1)
Los Angeles Times:
Put Aside Politics And Improve Healthcare, Obama Says
President Obama, fresh from a victory before the U.S. Supreme Court last week that preserved the Affordable Care Act, called for an end to the political fighting over the health law and for more effort to improve it. “This is about people. This is not about politics, it's not about Washington,” Obama said at a town-hall-style meeting at a Nashville elementary school. (Levey, 7/1)
Reuters:
Obama Pushes State Medicaid Expansion In Healthcare Hub Nashville
Obamacare, as the president's law is known, envisions a major expansion of the program, but nearly half of all U.S. states, mostly Republican-controlled, have rejected that part of the law and opted out of a Medicaid expansion. (Edwards, 7/1)
The Associated Press:
Obama: ‘Feeling Pretty Good’ About Health Care
Fresh off a Supreme Court victory, President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he’s “feeling pretty good” about the state of his health care law and pleaded for bipartisan cooperation on ways to make it work even better. Obama said he wants to refocus the debate on improving health care quality, expanding access and eliminating waste now that the high court has upheld a key element of the Affordable Care Act. (Superville, 7/1)
The Washington Post:
Obama Takes Health-Care Victory Lap In Tennessee
The town hall meeting on health care came one week after the Supreme Court shot down a major challenge to the massive government program that would have denied health-care subsidies to millions of Americans participating in the program through a federal marketplace. ... In Nashville, Obama touted the 166,000 Tennesseans — and 16 million people across the country — who have health care because of the Affordable Care Act. Health-care inflation has been trending down, the president said. (Jaffe, 7/1)
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire:
Supreme Court Case Behind Him, Obama Calls For Medicaid Expansion
Largely absent in Mr. Obama’s remarks were the words “Medicaid” and “TennCare,” the name of the program in the state. Instead, he talked repeatedly about “options” for states, and said he hoped “a uniquely Tennessee solution” to the standoff could still be found. (Tau and Radnofsky, 7/1)
Kaiser Health News:
Obama Asks GOP To Work With Him To Improve Health Care
President Barack Obama called on Republicans Wednesday to find a bipartisan way to fix problems in the nation’s health care system rather than continue to fight over the health law. "Part of what I’m hoping is with the Supreme Court case now behind us what we can do is … focus on how we can make it even better because it’s not as if we’ve solved all the problems in our health care system," Obama said in remarks at an elementary school in Nashville, Tenn. "America still spends more on health care than any other advanced nation and our outcomes aren’t particularly better." (Carey, 7/1)
The Hill:
President Takes Victory Lap On Supreme Court Obamacare Ruling
The president rattled off “a whole host” of benefits of the law, ranging from free preventative services such as mammograms to the ability of young people to stay on their parents insurance until they are 26. “You don’t always notice that until you need it,” he said of the benefits. He also made the case for the economics of the law, citing lower healthcare inflation. (Ferris, 7/1)
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire:
Davy Crockett Presses Obama On Health Care
For a brief time on Wednesday, Davy Crockett became the face of President Barack Obama’s push to get more states to expand Medicaid. Mr. Crockett, who described himself as a fifth-generation great-grandson of Davy Crockett, the American folk hero, attended the president’s speech in Nashville, Tenn., and got the opportunity to ask a question. He expressed frustration about denials of his application for Social Security benefits. Mr. Obama promised to look into it. (Armour, 7/1)
