Obama Uses Faces to Mark Health Care Law Anniversary Online
President Obama marks the two-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act with a new campaign video aimed at putting a face on the story of how "an unmet promise" of health insurance reform became the law of the land.
You can view the video HERE.
The film, like a recent campaign documentary on Obama's first term, casts the president as a historic champion of everyday Americans who have battled with insurance companies or struggled to receive care. It's also an attempt to bolster support for what has been a widely unpopular law.
"Health care is a fundamental challenge that this country has faced for a long time," Obama says, juxtaposed between archival footage of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Bill Clinton, who each attempted to make health care a domestic policy priority.
"We have tens of millions of people without health insurance; we've got people who were getting a raw deal from their insurance companies; people with preexisting conditions who couldn't get coverage, or their kids have preexisting conditions and couldn't get covered. It is heartbreaking," he says in between clips of news stories and individual testimonials highlighting the emotionally charged issues.
"I was not going to allow another decade to pass by where we kick the can down the road because it was the politically convenient thing to do," Obama says.
Americans remain skeptical of the legislation on the whole, according to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll. Fifty-two percent oppose the law, while just 41 percent support it. Two thirds of Americans think the Supreme Court should either overturn the law or at least the insurance mandate.
The film, titled "The Story of the Affordable Care Act: From an Unmet Promise to Law of the Land," highlights provisions that are individually popular (e.g. banning the concept of pre-existing conditions) then pivots to demonstrate that even those are at risk in the 2012 campaign.
"Right now you have choices about who's going to fight for you: 'Are we going to roll back health care that promises you having more security, maybe gives you a chance to get health insurance for the very first time?'" Obama says. "You need somebody who's fighting for you right now, and that's what I wake up thinking about every single day, fighting for you."
The campaign has also launched a new website and series of videos highlighting personal stories of American families who say they are already reaping the benefits of the law. It's an effort to put a face on components of the law that Republicans would like to see repealed.
The White House has said Obama does not have plans Friday to publicly mark the law's anniversary.