Former US President Barack Obama today called for “political courage” from members of Congress to prevent the repeal of the health care bill he pushed in 2010 after House Republicans approved this Thursday a bill to that end.
During his speech at the John F Kennedy Charity Awards in Boston, Obama praised lawmakers who voted for his reform 7 years ago, especially those who lost their seats in doing so.
“These men and women (who voted for their health law) did the right thing, did the difficult thing, they were profiles of courage,” said the former president.
But he also lashed out against those who, knowing that they harm the weakest and lack the truth, follow the doctrines of party, in his first great political speech since leaving the White House on January 20.
“It is my fervent hope, and the fervent hope of millions of people, regardless of the party, that courage is still possible. May the members of Congress today be willing to look at the facts and tell the truth, even when that goes against The dogmas of his party, “said the ex-president.
“I hope that the current members of Congress recognize that it takes little courage to help those who are already powerful, already comfortable, and influential, but it takes great courage to defend the vulnerable, the convalescent and the sick,” he insisted. Allusion to the consequences of the text presented by the republicans.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) approved by its government in 2010 was, despite its acknowledged failures, its great political achievement in national matters, providing health insurance to tens of millions of people and avoiding the bankruptcy of as many millions of Families who fell into it just to have one of its members sick.
However, at the same time that it launched one of the most ambitious health reforms of the last decades in the country, Republicans made the well-known Obamacare the main target to beat, and they got to vote more than 60 times in Congress To try to repeal the legislation.
Thus, ending it also became one of the campaign promises of current President Donald Trump, who scored his first legislative victory with Thursday’s vote on his repeal bill, which would nonetheless lead to the loss of coverage Medical care to 24 million people according to an independent study of the Capitol.
The text, however, has yet to be considered by the Senate, where it awaits a more complex path and will foreseeably face strong changes.
“I hope you understand that courage does not simply mean to do what is politically convenient,” Obama insisted tonight, “but to do what deep down in our hearts we know is right.”
