Obama Talks Up Health Care Rebates, Lower Premiums
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press | |
Associated Press |
At a
Insurers must spend at least
"If they're not spending your premium dollars on health care, they have to give you some money back," said the president, appearing with a group of health care consumers in the
Among those states are
Obama made his pitch a day after the Republican-controlled House voted for the 38th time to eliminate, cut funding or scale back the 3-year-old law since the
Senate Republican leader
"Jacking up our constituents' health care costs is bad enough, but to try to then convince them the opposite is happening - that they've actually won some Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes, well, it's just as absurd as it sounds," the
Obama dismissed the Republican criticism and the efforts in the House to roll back the law, saying he's willing to consider Republican ideas but that he hasn't heard any.
"What I've heard is the same old song and dance," he said. "We're just going to blow through that stuff and just keep on doing the right thing for the American people."
Republicans say the law is unworkable and must be repealed, arguing it will hurt the economy and force employers to cut much-needed jobs. They say proof that the law is unworkable lies in the administration's recent, unexpected decision to delay for one year, until after the 2014 elections, a requirement that businesses with 50 or more employees provide them with health care coverage or pay a penalty.
The
The House voted 264-161 to affirm the administration's decision to delay what's known as the employer mandate, the requirement that businesses of a specific size offer health care coverage to their workers. It also voted 251-174 to extend a similar delay to individuals who will be required to obtain health care coverage starting
The votes were held to score political points. The House measures have no chance of clearing the Democratic-controlled
The goal of the health care law is to provide coverage to nearly 50 million uninsured people and lower skyrocketing costs, but the public remains skeptical about how their coverage may be affected. The administration's decision to delay the employer mandate only served to fuel more doubts.
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