With Republicans moving once more to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act yet again, the White House on Thursday responded by launching a new campaign promoting PPACA and urging Americans to join supporters.
White House Deputy Senior Advisor David Simas sent out a letter arguing that the Republicans' repeal vote in the House is "meaningless," and urged Americans to join a "network of people to help make sure that everyone has the information they need as we implement the law."
Simas urged Americans to sign up on the White House's web page, called Speak Out in Support of Health Care Reform, to speak out against the Republican effort to repeal the law.
Recommended For You
"The health care law was passed by Congress, signed by the President, and upheld by the Supreme Court. It's been the law of the land for more than three years. It's not going anywhere," Simas wrote. "We know that, and so do the lawmakers on Capitol Hill. But instead of creating jobs and growing the economy, some of them want to make yet another gesture of protest — even if it's meaningless."
Though it's the 37th time Republicans have tried to either fully or partially repeal President Obama's signature law, the party has some ammo in the latest vote.
It has seized on comments made by some top Democrats criticizing the law, such as Max Baucus's remarks about PPACA being a "train wreck" because of bumbling implementation.
Party leaders also pressed their argument that there's nothing affordable about the Affordable Care Act. Industry insiders have long warned that many premiums will increase, a fact that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius conceded to in March.
But Simas wrote that repealing PPACA would mean losing important provisions that has already benefited millions of Americans.
On the site, the administration claims that 85 percent of Americans have already benefitted from the Affordable Care Act.
Poll after poll has shown that the law continues to remain unpopular. Additionally, Kaiser Family Foundation's most recent health tracking poll found that four in 10 Americans (42 percent) are unaware that the PPACA is still law and is being implemented.
Worse yet, according to Kaiser's poll, the share of Americans that say they lack enough information to understand how the PPACA will affect their families is higher among the two groups the law is likely to benefit most — the uninsured (58 percent) and low-income households (56 percent).
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
