Obama says healthcare law 'needs a tweak'
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U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday that his signature healthcare law is not perfect and " needs a tweak," but it does not mean "refight the battles of the last two years."
"I believe that anything can be improved. As we work to implement it, there are going to be times where we say, you know what, this needs a tweak, this isn't working exactly as intended, exactly the way we want," Obama said at Families USA Health Action conference in Washington, D.C.
He was basically echoing what he said in the State of the Union address Tuesday night, when he promised to work with Republicans to improve the law but offered few details on how to make it better.
"I'm willing to work with anyone, Republican or Democrat, to make care better or to make their health care more affordable," he reiterated.
One of the most likely things that may gain bipartisan support in redoing the reform law is a tax-reporting provision deeply unpopular with business.
"I've even suggested we begin by correcting what was a legitimate concern, a flaw, in the legislation that placed unnecessary bookkeeping burdens on small businesses," he said.
Obama also said he is open to ideas including patient safety innovations and medical malpractice reform.
Republicans have been vowing to "repeal and replace" the healthcare law, which Obama signed in March last year. They have already pushed the repeal bill through the House of Representatives, where they recaptured control in November's midterm elections. But the bill is almost surely to die in the Senate, which is still in the hands of Democrats.
"I am not willing to just refight the battles of the last two years. I'm not open to efforts that will take this law apart without considering the lives and the livelihoods that hang in the balance," said the president.
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