Obama pitches new health care law in California

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Friday encouraged the uninsured or those paying high prices for health insurance to sign up for coverage under his health care law and urged opponents to stop wasting time continuing to fighting its implementation.

Obama used a trip to California to highlight how the state is implementing the Affordable Care Act and refute continuing criticism over his signature legislative achievement. He touted an effort in the state to recruit Hispanics in particular to the health care exchanges that are being created to help millions of now-uninsured consumers afford coverage.

"The main message I want for Californians and people all across the country, starting on October 1st, if you're in the individual market, you can get a better deal," Obama said. He said California's online marketplace will allow consumers to shop for private insurance "just like you were going online to compare cars or airline tickets."

California has the country's biggest insurance market and, with 6 million uninsured residents, it is a crucial part of Obama's effort to get consumers to sign up for coverage. Thirteen insurance companies will be offering multiple health plans that vary in coverage and price through California's exchange, even in some of the most rural regions of the state.

In many states, Republican governments are opposing the law's implementation and are leaving oversight of the exchanges to the federal government. Obama noted that the House has voted 37 times to repeal the health care law.

"My suggestion to them has been, let's stop re-fighting the old battles and start working with people like the leaders who are on stage here today to make this law work the way it's supposed to," he said.

"You can listen to a bunch of political talk out there, negative ads and fear-mongering geared toward the next election, or alternatively you can actually look at what's happening in states like California right now," Obama said.

The president said there would be "glitches" and "hiccups" in getting the system up and running. He said current premium increases Americans may experience are not a result of the law, but the result of employers shifting costs to workers or insurers "jacking up prices unnecessarily."

Getting young people to enroll through the exchanges also is critical; they cost insurers less money because they tend to have the best health and don't require a lot of costly medical care.

The Obama administration is looking for about 7 million people to enroll through the exchanges, and 2.6 million of them need to be younger in order to keep costs down for the overall pool of enrollees, White House officials said. Nearly one-third of these young people live in three states: California, Texas and Florida.

Among the private entities working with the state of California to promote enrollment are the Spanish-language TV networks Telemundo and Univision. The White House says the law will give more than 10 million uninsured Latinos across the country the opportunity to afford health insurance coverage.

Obama arrived in California on Thursday evening to attend fundraisers in Palo Alto and Portola Valley to help Senate Democratic candidates.

The fundraising was to continue Friday with Obama's attendance at two Democratic National Committee fundraisers at the Santa Monica home of Peter Chernin, a former News Corp. executive, officials said. The events include a lunch for about 100 people, followed by a smaller 35-person reception. Tickets for the events range from $10,000 to $32,400.

Then Obama planned to travel to Rancho Mirage to meet with China's president.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-pitches-health-care-law-175709520.html

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