President Biden and former President Obama teamed up for a video promoting the Affordable Care Act released Friday, the final day of open enrollment and as the signature law has faced renewed threats from former President Trump in his own campaign for the White House.
Obama filmed the roughly 30-second video alongside Biden during a recent undisclosed trip to the White House. Biden opens the video by reading a text message asking if ObamaCare is “still a thing.”
“Yes;, ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act, BidenCare — whatever you call it — yes it is still a thing,” Obama says. “The other side’s been trying to repeal it every year since its existence, but we’ll keep fighting to protect it.”
“Not just protect it, but expand it,” Biden adds. “It’s saving millions of dollars for working families. We’re covering more people than ever.”
Friday was the final day for open enrollment for plans through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. More than 7 million people had signed up for coverage as of last week.
Obama previously visited the White House in 2022 to promote the success of his signature health care law.
Trump, who is the front-runner for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, campaigned on repealing ObamaCare during his first term, but the effort stalled in Congress. The former president, who is the front-runner for the GOP nomination in 2024, raised the topic again last month.
“We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!” he wrote on Truth Social.
He doubled down in a later social media post, saying ObamaCare “sucks” and that he would replace it with something else.
Trump’s remarks have already been used as fodder by the White House, the Biden campaign and Democrats, who view protecting Americans from losing health insurance as a winning argument that helped propel the party into the House majority in 2018.