Seeking to regroup from his health care law's disastrous rollout, US President Barack Obama has insisted that the sweeping overhaul is working and warned Republican critics that he would fight any efforts to strip away its protections.
"We're not repealing it as long as I'm president," Obama said during a health care event on Tuesday at the White House.
"If I have to fight another three years to make sure this law works, then that's what I'll do."
Earlier on Tuesday, the administration released a 50-state report saying that nearly 1.5 million people were found eligible for Medicaid during October. As website problems depressed sign-ups for subsidised private coverage, that safety-net program for low-income people saw a nearly 16 per cent increase in states that have agreed to expand it, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The White House is trying to cast the health care law in a positive light after the first two months of enrolment for the centrepiece insurance exchanges were marred with technical problems. With the majority of problems with the sign-up website resolved, by the accounting of administration officials, Obama and his team plan to spend much of December trying to remind Americans why the administration fought for the law in the first place.
"We believe that in America, nobody should have to worry about going broke because somebody in their family or they got sick," Obama said, flanked by people the White House says have benefited from the law.
Despite Obama's sunny presentation, officials are furiously working behind the scenes to rectify an unresolved issue with enrolment data that could become a significant headache after the first of the year. Insurers say much of the enrolment data they're receiving is practically useless, meaning some consumers might not be able to get access to benefits on January 1, the date their coverage is scheduled to take effect.
