Hours after a penitent press conference, a notably more animated President Barack Obama told an Ohio crowd that he’s not giving up on fixing problems with his health reform law.
“I want everybody to understand: I am going to see this through,” he said Thursday during a campaign-style event at steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal in Cleveland, Ohio. “I want millions of Americans to make sure they are not going broke when they get sick, and they can go to a doctor when their kid gets sick. We are not apologizing for that. We are going to get this done.”
The president’s appearance in the important political swing state focused mainly on the economy and manufacturing, but he veered into an impassioned defense of his signature legislative achievement towards the end of his remarks.
“We are not going to gut this law,” he said. “We will fix what needs to be fixed but we are going to make the Affordable Care Act work and those who say they are opposed to it and can’t offer a solution, we’ll push back.”
Obama said Ohio GOP Gov. John Kasich deserves “credit” for expanding Medicaid in the state under the new law, something other GOP governors have refused to do.
“I think it’s fair to say that the governor didn’t do it because he just loves me so much,” he joked. “We don’t agree on much but he saw that this makes sense.”
Obama’s trip to Cleveland came just hours after he gave a lengthy press conference again acknowledging problems with the health care law and its online implementation.
“We did fumble the ball on it and one of the things I am going to do is make sure we get it fixed,” he told reporters earlier.