The White House hit back at former President Obama’s vocal defense of Obamacare Thursday, saying Mr. Obama “can’t change the facts” of the law’s rising health insurance costs.
“President Obama must be feeling the time is up for his signature law,” said White House press secretary Sean Spicer. “He can’t change the facts about where it stands. He seems to have forgotten that he pushed Obamacare on the promise of reducing costs, not making healthcare unaffordable.”
Mr. Obama issued a statement in defense of his health-care law on the seventh anniversary of its passage, saying it’s false for the GOP to claim Obamacare is in a “death spiral.”
“While it’s true that some premiums have risen, the vast majority of marketplace enrollees have experienced no average premium hike at all,” Mr. Obama said. “And so long as the law is properly administered, this market will remain stable. Likewise, this law is no ’job-killer,’ because America’s businesses went on a record-breaking streak of job growth in the seven years since I signed it.”
With Mr. Trump urgently trying to rally Republicans to back a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare Thursday, Mr. Spicer blasted the former president’s reasoning.
“President Obama stated that Americans received an ’upgrade’ in insurance,” Mr. Spicer said. “But the mandates that Obamacare placed on insurance forced millions off their insurance or away from their doctor, which broke the promises they were given. President Obama attempted to move the goalpost on cost, downplaying the skyrocketing premiums … and unaffordable deductibles.”
He added, “President Obama said Obamacare isn’t in a ’death spiral,’ but enrollment is nowhere near expectations, and this year it is actually declining. Insurers are fleeing the exchanges and one in three counties in America only has one insurer.”
Mr. Trump’s spokesman concluded, “President Obama may not believe that Obamacare is a ’job killer,’ but the new law including its job-killing taxes, mandates and regulations speaks for itself. With the passage of the American Health Care Act, we will begin the process of rolling back Obamacare’s many disastrous policies.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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