WASHINGTON, (Sputnik) — The United States still has a long way to go to achieve universal health coverage even after the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, President Barack Obama said in a speech in Madison, Tennessee.
“We know there’s still a lot of work to be done,” Obama said in a speech at the Taylor Stratton Elementary School on Wednesday. “We have covered [only] one third of the people who were not covered.”
The President explained that Obamacare has resulted in 16 million Americans receiving health insurance coverage who never had it before.
However, he pointed out that twice as many people — 32 million — still lacked any health insurance.
“We want to think about getting them covered,” Obama said.
The President also noted that Obamacare was working far better than expected, confounding its mostly conservative critics.
“I'm hoping we can focus on how to make it even better,” Obama said. “There are still great strides to be made.
The President explained that Obamacare has made health care more accessible to people across the United States.
“There are a whole host of things under the Affordable Care Act that are benefiting 150 million Americans,” he said.
The President called on Republicans in Congress to “open your hearts” to struggling Americans who “just need a little help to get back on their feet.”
Also on Wednesday, the Kaiser Family Foundation released poll results showing that 62 percent of Americans approved of last week’s Supreme Court decision to uphold Obamacare.
