Accessibility links

Breaking News
USA

Obama: Health Insurance is a Right


U.S. President Barack Obama says the U.S. is "well on the way" to implementing the Affordable Care Act - also known as "Obamacare" - providing low-cost heath insurance for millions of Americans.

The president said U.S. citizens who are not insured will be able to comparison shop for insurance plans, beginning October 1. He said insurance companies cannot refuse to cover Americans or charge them more because of a pre-existing condition.

Obama said health insurance affects the economic security of millions of America. He said health insurance is not a privilege, but a right, and he intends to keep it that way.

He accused a group of Republicans in Congress of "working hard to confuse people," and threatening to shut down the government if the group does not get its way on the issue.

Watch President Obama's weekly address:



In the Republican address Saturday, Representative Shelley Moore Capito said the health care law "is already raising costs, hurting jobs, and reducing access to the plans and the doctors" Americans like.

She said it is time for the Democratic-led Senate and the president to agree to delay the health care law, as the Republican-led House of Representatives has chosen to do in a bipartisan vote.

Watch weekly Republican address:

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG