自卸任以来，前总统巴拉克·奥巴马首次回到白宫周二，他将和他的前副总统乔·拜登一起推动他12年前签署成为法律的平价医疗法案。
奥巴马与拜登和副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯一起发表了关于患者保护与平价医疗法案的讲话，哈里斯首先为周年纪念鼓掌并介绍了前总统。奥巴马受到了长时间的起立鼓掌欢迎，并对挤满人的东厅说，“回到白宫真好。”
在谈到他任期内具有里程碑意义的立法之前，奥巴马开了几个玩笑，就像他作为总统经常做的那样，以感谢“副总统拜登”开始他的讲话。
“那是个笑话。这都是设计好的，”奥巴马笑着说，走回来给拜登一个拥抱。
“我承认，我听说自从我上次来这里后，现任总统已经做了一些改变，”奥巴马继续说道。“显然，特勤局特工现在必须戴飞行员眼镜。海军食堂已被芭斯罗缤取代。还有一只猫在跑来跑去，我保证博和桑尼会很不高兴的，”他笑着说，指的是奥巴马夫妇的狗。
这位前总统随后转向了他此行的目的:庆祝患者保护与平价医疗法案执政12年，称这是“你当初为什么要竞选公职的一个例子”
“我们不应该仅仅为了占据一个席位或保住权力而这样做。在介绍拜登之前，奥巴马说:“我们应该这样做，因为这给派我们来这里的人们的生活带来了变化。”。
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
总统乔·拜登和副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯以前总统巴拉克的身份观看.
“我的名字是乔·拜登，我是巴拉克·奥巴马的副总统，”拜登说，引起了房间里更多的笑声。“感觉就像过去的美好时光——在这里和你在一起带回了太多美好的回忆。”
“老实说，患者保护与平价医疗法案有很多叫法，但奥巴马医改是最合适的，”拜登带着明显的自豪补充道，“奥巴马医改。”
他接着宣布了拜登政府在患者保护与平价医疗法案基础上采取的新措施，包括一项新的行政命令，指示联邦机构“尽一切努力”扩大覆盖面，并使其更容易注册，他在讲话后签署了这项命令，以及财政部提出的解决ACA所谓的“家庭故障”的规则
拜登说:“一旦今天提出的规则最终确定，从明年开始，美国的工薪家庭将获得他们所需的帮助，以支付全部家庭保险。”“随着这一变化，估计有20万目前没有保险的美国人将获得保险。近100万美国人将会看到他们的医疗保险变得更加实惠。”
拜登还敦促国会采取行动，保持他的政府在美国救援计划时期实施的扩张不变，并呼吁美国人继续努力，防止共和党人再次试图废除ACA。
“如果共和党人如愿以偿，这意味着1亿已有疾病的美国人将再次被保险公司拒绝医疗保险。这就是奥巴马医改之前的法律。此外，数以千万计的美国人可能会失去他们的保险，包括年轻人，他们将不再能够在26岁之前继续享受父母的保险，”拜登说。
“我们需要继续战斗，”他补充说，呼吁共和党对ACA进行“不屈不挠”的斗争。
拜登在签署行政命令前又开始取笑自己，回忆起2010年他在热播麦克风上告诉奥巴马ACA是“一桩大买卖”。
“巴拉克，让我提醒你——这是一个热麦克风，”拜登笑着说。
白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基(Jen Psaki)在预览周二的讲话时表示，奥巴马和拜登周二还将在白宫共进午餐，“就像他们过去每周做的那样”，并补充说，“他们继续定期交谈。”
普萨基说:“他们是真正的朋友，不仅仅是华盛顿的朋友，所以我相信他们会谈论世界上的事情以及他们的家庭和个人生活。”
这位广受欢迎的前总统的来访正值拜登民意测验中的斗争在处理40年来的高通胀和飙升的油价时，他将矛头指向了正在进行的乌克兰战争。
普萨基说，这是“让前总统来到这里的确切时机——鉴于这是他们共同努力、共同分享的最自豪的成就之一。”
“这象征着他们的共同观点和信念，即政府可以为人民服务，也可以为美国人民服务。这是一个建立在10多年前成功的基础上，并随着时间的推移不断完善的例子，”她补充说。
普萨基还表示，期待奥巴马很快再次回到白宫，为他的总统肖像揭幕，“也许在未来的其他活动，”她说。
普萨基周一指出，自拜登上任以来，政府通过美国救援计划帮助900万美国人降低了医疗保险费，“这是自ACA以来可负担医疗保健的最大扩张”
她说:“在疫情期间，我们通过开放特别注册期，使人们更容易获得负担得起的医疗保险，这使近300万美国人能够获得新注册的ACA保险。”。“拜登总统去年监管了历史上最成功的开放注册，有1450万美国人注册了ACA保险，另有100万人注册了基本医疗保健计划。”
周二是拜登和奥巴马自去年秋天在纽约出席911袭击20周年纪念活动以来的首次联合亮相，也是拜登2021年1月就职以来他们在华盛顿的首次联合活动。
当这对夫妇庆祝ACA的通道12年前的上个月，拜登在白宫为奥巴马鼓掌，他称之为“一件大事”
一名高级政府官员对记者解释了这一难忘的时刻，关于拜登宣布的内容，“借用一句话，这条规则是一件大事。”
“我们认为这是自该法首次实施以来，我们采取的改善《反腐败法》执行情况的最重要的行政行动，”该官员补充道。
该规则将于2023年1月1日开始生效，美国人将能够在下一个开放注册期间注册获得财政援助。
截至去年，大约3100万美国人根据卫生与公众服务部的说法，通过ACA有医疗保险。
Obama returns to White House to help Biden push Affordable Care Act
For the first time since leaving office, former President Barack Obamareturned to the White Houseon Tuesday to join his former vice president -- Joe Biden -- in promoting the Affordable Health Care Act he signed into law 12 years ago.
Obama joined Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to deliver remarks on the Affordable Care Act, with Harris speaking first to applaud the anniversary and introduce the former president. Obama received a standing ovation and told a packed East Room, "It's good to be back at the White House."
Before addressing the landmark legislation of his presidency, Obama cracked a few jokes, as he often did as president, opening his remarks by thanking "Vice President Biden."
"That was a joke. That was all set-up," Obama said to laughter, walking back to give Biden a hug.
"I confess, I heard some changes have been made by the current president since I was last here," Obama continued. "Apparently, Secret Service agents have to wear Aviator glasses now. The Navy mess has been replaced by a Baskin-Robbins. And there's a cat running around, which I guarantee Beau and Sunny would have been very unhappy about," he said to laughter, referring to the Obamas' dogs.
The former president then pivoted to the purpose of his visit: to celebrate 12 years of the Affordable Care Act, saying it's "an example of why you run for office in the first place."
"We're not supposed to do this just to occupy a seat or to hang on to power. We're supposed to do this because it's making a difference in the lives of the people who sent us here," Obama said, before introducing Biden.
"My name is Joe Biden, and I'm Barack Obama's vice president," Biden said, prompting more laughter in the room. "It feels like the good old days -- being here with you brings back so many good memories."
"Let's be honest, the Affordable Care Act has been called a lot of things, but Obamacare is the most fitting," Biden added with apparent pride, "Obamacare."
He went on to announce new steps the Biden administration is taking to build on the Affordable Care Act, including a new executive order directing federal agencies "to do everything in their power" to expand coverage and make it easier to enroll, which he signed after his remarks, as well as a proposed rule from the Treasury Department to fix the ACA's so-called "family glitch."
"Once today's proposed rule is finalized, starting next year, working families in America will get the help they need to afford full family coverage," Biden said. "With this change, it's estimated that 200,000 presently uninsured Americans are going to gain coverage. Nearly one million Americans will see their coverage become more affordable."
Biden also urged Congress to take action to keep the expansions his administration has put in place under the American Rescue Plan intact and pitched to Americans to keep up the fight to prevent Republicans from trying, again, to repeal the ACA.
"If Republicans have their way, it means 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions can once again be denied health care coverage by their insurance companies. That's what the law was before Obamacare. In addition, tens of millions of Americans could lose their coverage, including young people who will no longer be able to stay on their parent's insurance policy until age 26," Biden said.
"We need to keep up the fight," he added, calling out the GOP for its "unrelenting" campaign against the ACA.
Biden went back to poking fun at himself before signing the executive order, recalling back to when he was caught on hot mic back in 2010 telling Obama the ACA was "a big f****** deal."
"And Barack, let me remind you -- it's a hot mic,” Biden said to laughter.
Previewing Tuesday's remarks, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that Obama and Biden would also have lunch at the White House Tuesday -- "as they used to do on a weekly basis" -- and added, "They continue to talk regularly."
"They are real friends, not just Washington friends, and so I'm sure they will talk about events in the world as well as their families and personal lives," Psaki said.
The visit from the popular former president comes as Bidenstruggles in the pollsover his handling of 40-year-high inflation and soaring gas prices he's pinned to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Psaki said it's "exactly the right time to have the former president come here -- given this is one of the proudest accomplishments that they worked on together, they shared together."
"And it is emblematic of their shared view and belief that government can work for people and it can work for the American people. And this is an example of building on a success from more than 10 years ago and making it better over time," she added.
Psaki also said to expect Obama to return to the White House again soon for his presidential portrait unveiling "and perhaps other engagements here in the future," she said.
Since Biden took office, the administration helped to lower health care premiums for nine million Americans through the American Rescue Plan, Psaki noted Monday, "the biggest expansion of affordable health care since the ACA."
"We've made affordable health coverage more accessible during the pandemic through the opening of the special enrollment period, which enabled nearly three million Americans to have access to newly sign up for coverage under the ACA," she said. "And President Biden has overseen the most successful open enrollment in history last year with the historic 14.5 million Americans signing up for ACA coverage and another million people signing up for the basic health care program."
Tuesday marked Biden and Obama's first joint appearance since attending the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks last fall in New York and their first joint event in Washington since Biden's inauguration in January 2021.
When the pair celebrated theACA's passage12 years ago last month, Biden was caught on hot mic applauding Obama at the White House for what he called "a big f------ deal."
Paraphrasing the memorable moment, a senior administration official told reporters, on what Biden announced, "to borrow a phrase, this rule is a -- is a big deal."
"We think it's the most significant administrative action to improve implementation of the ACA that we've taken since the law was first implemented," the official added.
The rule would begin to take effect beginning Jan. 1, 2023, and Americans will be able to sign up to get financial assistance during the next open enrollment period.
As of last year, about31 million Americanshad health care coverage through the ACA, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
