Former U.S. President Barack Obama took a swipe at attempts by Republican lawmakers to replace the health care legislation signed into law under his two-term tenure in the White House, on Wednesday, September 20. While delivering the keynote address at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's annual Goalkeepers event in New York City, the nation's 44th Commander-In-Chief gave a few thoughts on the GOP push to pass a bill sponsored by Republican Senators Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (La.), that would deplete Medicaid and decentralize healthcare from the federal government to allow lawmakers to dictate how health care is administered in their own states.
“It wasn’t perfect, but it was better. And so when I see people trying to undo that hard-won progress, for the 50th or 60th time, with bills that would raise costs or reduce coverage, or roll back protections for older Americans, people with preexisting conditions, the cancer survivor, the expectant mom, or the child with autism, or asthma, for whom coverage will once again will be unattainable, it is aggravating,” Obama said, while reflecting on the Affordable Care Act and how an overriding law would lead to a regressive state of health care in the United States. According to Obama, his dismay lies in how he envisions the replacement would impact Americans.
Obama followed up by saying, "It’s certainly frustrating to have to mobilize every couple of months to keep our leaders from inflicting real human suffering on our constituents."
