MIAMI — President Barack Obama on Thursday defended his namesake health care program, long a target of Republicans and recently criticized by some Democrats, saying millions of Americans "now know the financial security of health insurance" because of the Affordable Care Act.
"It's worked," he said, even while allowing that the program isn't perfect. "No law is."
Less than two weeks before the Nov. 1 start of the enrollment period for Affordable Care Act health plans, Obama flew to a South Florida college to kick off a push by the administration to encourage more people to sign up, with a particular emphasis on young adults.
What Obama attempted Thursday was a difficult sales job, as the 2010 law faces new and troubling challenges. Premiums are rising by double digits in many parts of the country and some major insurers have quit the program, leaving consumers with fewer choices next year and contributing to higher prices that are plaguing the program.
He chalked up GOP criticism of the law to "nothing more than politics" and envy that "a Democratic president named Barack Obama passed the law. That's just the truth." He called on both parties to set aside the "political rhetoric" and "be honest about what's working, what needs fixing and how we fix it." He urged the new president and the next Congress to "take what we've learned over the past six years … and make the ACA better."
Obama presented his own prescription to make the law better, including getting Florida and more than a dozen states that haven't yet done so to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid and bring health insurance to millions more people.
He also called for providing tax credits to help middle-class Americans and young adults afford coverage, creating a "public plan fallback" to provide more options, particularly for people in rural and other hard-to-reach areas, and encouraging state innovation.
Also on Thursday, the president also used a rousing campaign speech in Miami Gardens to talk up Patrick Murphy, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate. But perhaps more importantly for Murphy, Obama issued a scathing indictment of Republican Sen. Marco Rubio — whom the president called out by name.
"I'm even more confused by Republican politicians who still support Donald Trump," Obama said. "Marco Rubio is one of those people. How does that work? How can you call him a con artist and dangerous and object to all the controversial things he says and then say, 'But I'm still gonna vote for him?' C'mon, man!"
Obama's screed continued.
"You know what that is, though? It is the height of cynicism," he said. "That's the sign of someone who will say anything, do anything, pretend to be anybody just to get elected. And you know what? If you're willing to be anybody just to be somebody, then you don't have the leadership that Florida needs in the United States Senate."
Though the president spent much of the afternoon promoting Hillary Clinton — and, especially, bashing Trump — he seemed to relish tearing into Rubio far more harshly — and more effectively — than Murphy ever has.
"Even Marco Rubio says there's no rigging of the vote," Obama said, "which I'd like to give credit for — except he's refuting the dangerous, unprecedented claims of a candidate he says he's still going to vote for!"
Rubio, Obama concluded, "just seems to care about hanging on to his job."
Information from Patricia Mazzei and Amy Sherman of the Miami Herald was included in this report.