Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Index / Policies Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Transcripts Janet Murguía ...of 2009—in reference, obviously, to the Affordable Care Act [ACA] not covering undocumente... ...obviously, to the Affordable Care Act [ ACA ] not covering undocumented immigrants... ...that millions have benefited from the ACA coverage, including Latinos an... ...tried to promote the importance of the Affordable Care Act and getting it passed, which was a ver... ...key action was the passage of the Affordable Care Act . Having that expanded—well, it wasn'... ...making sure that we are promoting the Affordable Care Act access to our community tha... Show more... Melody Barnes ...Policy Council then in shaping the ACA [Affordable Care Act] ? Senato... ...Council then in shaping the ACA [ Affordable Care Act ] ? Senator Daschle was going to lea... ...and some of the other issues in the ACA ? And simultaneously—and these train... ...trains eventually came together—as the ACA is chugging along, one of the thing... ...is button up our conversation on the ACA , and then we'll schedule a time t... ...things I wanted to ask you about the ACA . And the first is the conversation... ...do. And kind of soup to nuts, with the ACA on this issue, it's one of the thing... ...a future historian were looking at the ACA legislation, would they see specifi... ...having that ultimately shaped what the ACA looked like, or was what the ACA wa... ...the ACA looked like, or was what the ACA was going to look like in terms o... ...that I wanted to ask you about with the ACA is to tell me about the day i... ...when the rubber hits the road, yes, the ACA and measures in the ACA, or now tha... ...road, yes, the ACA and measures in the ACA , or now that are tended to th... ...the ACA, or now that are tended to the ACA —those things are really helpin... ...to sustain legislation—think about the ACA —but also so that you get it right, s... ...to pass—so we're in negotiations on the Affordable Care Act . That was really complicated. Yo... ...and contraception being included in the Affordable Care Act . So you had a lot of differen... ...rights and abortion around the ACA , because those strike me as prett... ...to get to a solution that allowed the ACA to move forward. Watching, quit... ...bill that was a companion to the Affordable Care Act . It was just that healthcare was to... Show more... Jay Carney ...to get young people to sign up for the Affordable Care Act [ACA] . And I was like, “This is ... ...sign up for the Affordable Care Act [ ACA ] . And I was like, “This is a grea... ...shutdowns, was the rollout of the Affordable Care Act website. [Groans] Obviously didn'... ...whole goal of and reason to pass the Affordable Care Act was at risk because of this fault... ...about the messaging around the ACA ? You mentioned that the administratio... ...as they often do, “Hillarycare,” “ Obamacare ” in the early days, and embracin... ...young people on signing up for the ACA . She explained it as saying this is ... Show more... Neera Tanden ...we had talked quite a lot about the Affordable Care Act , and we had been talking abou... ...was one other thorny issue with the ACA that I would love to hear you tal... ...in the party. The model of the Affordable Care Act wasn't innovation. Progressives ha... ...stakeholders broadly supported the Affordable Care Act . Just to step back, a core takeawa... ...and others had was that to pass the Affordable Care Act , we needed to ensure that we had a... ...one of the arguments in favor of the Affordable Care Act in the campaign was that it would rei... ...that we shouldn't lose the whole Affordable Care Act for a weaker version [laughs] of th... ...way to approach it in order to get the ACA passed at all? This is a reall... ...think we lost some ability to make the ACA a consumer bill that protects people... ...Patients' Bill of Rights were in the ACA . But I think because we positione... ...during the process of working on the ACA that you were really concerned that i... ...I'm sorry I'm not being more clear. The Affordable Care Act itself internalized that people do no... ...vantage point. I had worked on the ACA , and then I came out of it and ran th... ...against Republican attacks against the ACA . But then, starting in 2015 an... ...spending a lot of my time defending the ACA from attacks from the left. There wa... ...of forgetting the intricacies of the ACA . I do think people forget how unusua... ...say, there's many ways to look at the ACA . That was a public policy tha... ...had [unclear]. Given how [unclear] ACA was to pass, can you tell me abou... ...the bill. Obviously, everyone thought ACA was not going to pass. It was a rea... ...to pass. It was a real possibility ACA was not going to pass after Scott Brow... ...it was weeks of we could lose the whole ACA and everyone would've done this fo... ...could not tell you what was in the Affordable Care Act after a year of coverage on th... ...Act after a year of coverage on the Affordable Care Act , which was maddening to me. I'm no... ...in terms of medical inflation, the ACA actually did bring—whether it was jus... ...did bring—whether it was just the ACA or a bunch of other [unclear], the AC... ...ACA or a bunch of other [unclear], the ACA did bring healthcare costs down. ... ...an interesting experience; because the ACA always did so much less than it... ...people wanted to cave to Trump on the ACA . Did I tell that story? I don't thin... ...Oh, okay. I have to say—I worked on the Affordable Care Act for the president. Then, when I was a... ...for American Progress, we defended the ACA for years, but we really led th... ...really led the coalition to defend the ACA against President Trump's effort t... ...on organizing a coalition to defend the Affordable Care Act . There were groups. One leader—I'm no... ...willing to cave on aspects of the ACA ,' they will not only kill the ACA... ...the ACA,' they will not only kill the ACA ; they will go after Medicaid an... ...protect President Obama's legacy, the ACA —what was so interesting to me was tha... ...flooded into town halls to fight the ACA repeal. They had a huge impact o... ...Trump would go out and lie about the ACA , about his plans to repeal, every day... ...country had health insurance from the ACA . Now, I don't think they want to admi... ...thing. The happiest day I had on the ACA was the day it passed and the day th... ...the most important reason why the ACA survived was fundamentally because th... ...wasn't so long after the passage of the ACA that you decided to leave th... ...most difficult part of working on the ACA for me was that it was, that's all ... ...But I was really just working on the ACA . Then it was passing, and I was like... ...helpful now. I take lessons from the ACA into my work for President Biden. Bu... ...do think that the durability of the Affordable Care Act —which, even though it had a... ...this. He got super in the weeds on the Affordable Care Act . I felt like he knew as much as I di... Show more... Lisa Konwinski ...working on in 2009, and that's the Affordable Care Act [ACA]. That was obviously a lon... ...and that's the Affordable Care Act [ ACA ]. That was obviously a long proces... ...the reconciliation process around the ACA . What had to be traded or lost i... Doug O'Brien ...I'm also curious about the role of the ACA [Affordable Care Act] and the impact i... ...curious about the role of the ACA [ Affordable Care Act ] and the impact it had on the wor... ...or how rural areas got brought into the ACA and how you brought the ACA into rura... ...into the ACA and how you brought the ACA into rural areas. I can tell you tha... ...at least, everything was framed around ACA . It was the messaging around economi... ...always a lens or an angle that had an ACA —there was a lot of disciplin... ...of ways to talk about the impact of ACA that we would hope would be compellin... Show more... Farhana Khera ...crisis, he's working on things like the Affordable Care Act [ACA]. Were there things that you wer... ...things like the Affordable Care Act [ ACA ]. Were there things that you wer... ...focused on the financial crisis, the ACA , that's where we were focused. I... ...Muslim Advocates wasn't involved in the ACA , I know there were Muslim communit... ...and organizations involved in the ACA push, on jobs issues, economic issue... Michael Steele ...I fought vigorously and vehemently on Obamacare [Affordable Care Act], I knew I wo... ...and vehemently on Obamacare [ Affordable Care Act ], I knew I won that battle the day h... ...he referred to it for the first time as Obamacare . That was a moment for me at the RNC... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Supreme Court Supreme Court go to the Middle East and North Africa Middle East and North Africa go to the Agriculture Agriculture go to the Criminal Justice Criminal Justice go to the Education Education