By WCCO TV – April 5, 2022
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama reunited at the White House Tuesday to mark the 12th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called “Obamacare.”
The event marked the first time Obama has returned to the White House since leaving office.
“Nothing made me prouder than providing better health care and protections to millions of people across this country,” Obama said.
Biden issued an executive order directing federal agencies to do all they can to expand quality and affordable health care. He also announced a proposed change to the Affordable Care Act to expand coverage and fix what’s become known as the “family glitch.” Under the proposed rule, if a workplace plan for a family costs more than 10% of the family’s income, the employee’s spouse and children would be able to get help through the ACA marketplace.
“Working families in America will get the help they need to afford full family coverage,” Biden said.
The rule wouldn’t go into effect until January of next year, and the White House hasn’t said how much it will cost the government to fix the glitch or how to pay for it.
“It’s estimated that 200,000 presently uninsured Americans are gonna gain coverage. Nearly one million Americans will see their coverage become more affordable,” Biden said.
Enrollment into 2022 ACA medical plans reached record highs due to expanded subsidies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those additional subsidies are set to expire at the end of this year.
Minnesota Congresswoman Angie Craig was by Biden’s side Tuesday as he signed the executive order. Craig has pushed to fix the “family glitch” for more than a year, highlighting the story of Allie Krueger from Savage. She says her family was forced to spend more than 25% of their income on insurance costs because of the loophole. Krueger and her husband were also at the White House Tuesday.
“I ended up getting teary-eyed because it’s just truly so shocking. I never thought that I would be, you know, pushing it this hard that this is what would end up happening. It’s truly amazing,” Krueger said. “We’ve been having to cut costs in a lot of places, so we are excited to be able to start saving money again instead of, you know, like trying to live paycheck to paycheck.”
Craig says this fix could save 62,000 Minnesotans thousands of dollars a year.