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During a trip to
Wisconsin to tout the program, Obama said he hoped Republicans
would work with him during his final months in office to improve
the law, which they have tried unsuccessfully to repeal.
"Today I can announce that thanks to the law, 20 million more
Americans now know the security of health insurance," Obama told
a crowd in Milwaukee after being introduced by a local man who
said the law saved his life. The man, Brent Brown, said he was a
Republican who had not voted for the Democratic president.
The law was passed in 2010 and Republicans have sought to repeal
it ever since.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the
estimates Obama referenced included coverage from the expansion
of the Medicaid program, health insurance marketplaces, and
provisions that allowed young people to stay on their parents'
private insurance plans longer.
The 20 million figure was an update to a September 2015
government estimate that 17.6 million Americans had been insured
as a result of the Affordable Care Act.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason in Milwaukee and Ayesha Rascoe in
Washington; Editing by Tom Brown)
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