Obama Urges Latinos to Get Health Insurance, Touts Cheaper Rates Thanks to ACA
President Obama urged Californians, particularly young people and Hispanics, to sign up for health insurance, now that Obamacare has lowered rates to more affordable levels.
"The main message I want for Californians and people all across the country, starting on Oct. 1, if you're in the individual market, you can get a better deal," Obama said during a speech in San Jose, Calif. on Friday. California is setting up a health insurance exchange that will allow consumers to go shop for coverage online "just like you were going online to compare cars or airline tickets," Obama said.
The president is pushing for people who are currently uninsured to sign up for health insurance coverage, particularly younger, healthier people. The American Hispanic population skews younger, and therefore healthier, so Obama directed his message toward Latinos as well.
Enrollment by healthier people offsets the increased costs of covering older people and those with chronic illnesses, a key goal of the Affordable Care Act. It also prevents healthy people from forgoing health insurance altogether, which can be devastating both physically and financially in the case of accidents of sudden onset of illness.
The administration wants 2.6 million young people to sign up, most of whom are concentrated in Hispanic-heavy areas like Florida, Texas and California. In all more then 10 million Latinos will be able to afford health insurance who couldn't before, thanks to the provisions in Obamacare.
Still, there is plenty of opposition to the healthcare law, especially in Congress. Republicans in the House have futilely attempted to repeal the Affordable Car Act 37 times since its passage, and many Republican governors are refusing to implement the health insurance exchanges, forgoing federal dollars and leaving their residents without coverage.
"My suggestion to them has been, let's stop re-fighting the old battles and start working with people like the leaders who are on stage here today to make this law work the way it's supposed to," said Obama. "You can listen to a bunch of political talk out there, negative ads and fear-mongering geared toward the next election, or alternatively you can actually look at what's happening in states like California right now."