Obama tries to soothe public skepticism
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U.S. President Barack Obama Thursday made renewed efforts to convince the still-skeptic public of the benefits of the healthcare legislation he just signed into law.
Obama delivered a speech in Iowa City, Iowa, where he first announced his healthcare plan in May 2007, launching a grassroots campaign for reform that led directly to the legislation passed on Sunday night.
"Three years ago, I came here to make a promise. Just a few months into our campaign, I stood at the University of Iowa hospital right around the corner and promised that by the end of my first term in office, I would sign a health insurance reform bill," he recalled.
"After a year of debate and a century of trying, after so many of you shared your stories and your heartaches and your hopes, that promise was finally fulfilled," said Obama.
However, Americans are still divided on healthcare reform, the president's top domestic priority.
A new Gallup poll showed that 49 percent of Americans nationwide said healthcare reform was a "good thing," compared with 40 percent who said it was bad. It suggests a moderate improvement when Gallup found more Americans disprove of the efforts than those approve earlier this month.
Addressing an audience at the University of Iowa, Obama made a campaign-style speech touting the benefits that the healthcare law will bring to the ordinary people, such as prohibiting insurers from denying coverage to children because of pre-existing medical conditions; barring insurers from putting lifetime dollar limits on coverage and dropping coverage when people get sick.
Obama also blasted on Republicans' campaign to repeal his new healthcare law, saying they should "Go for it" and see how voters will respond in mid-term elections.
"This is the reform that some folks in Washington are still hollering about. And now that it's passed, they're already promising to repeal it. They're actually going to run on a platform of repeal in November," he said.
Shortly after Obama signed the healthcare legislation, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell rolled out his party's new campaign slogan for November: "Repeal and replace," vowing to continue to fight until the bill is repealed and replaced with "common-sense ideas that solve our problems without dismantling the healthcare system."
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