Obama: Health care reform is ‘good for the American people’

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Reacting to the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding virtually all of the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama hailed the ruling and explained some of the key portions of the law in a manner that most Americans simply haven’t heard yet.

Specifically, the president kept it simple and short, telling Americans that once the law is fully implemented in 2014, virtually everyone will be covered by a private health insurance policy.

“It should be pretty clear by now that I didn’t do this because it was good politics,” Obama said. “I did it because I believed it was good for the country. I did it because I believed it was good for the American people.”

He added that the law is already benefiting millions of Americans by preventing insurers from dropping them when they get sick, requiring insurers spend a certain amount of each customer’s premiums on actual health care, and mandating that preventative care be made available for free.

“The highest court in the land has now spoken,” Obama continued. “We will continue to implement this law. And we’ll work together to improve on it when we can. But what we won’t do, and what the country cannot afford to do, is re-fight the political battles of two years ago, or go back to the way things were.”

He concluded: “With today’s announcement, it’s time to move forward, to implement and, where necessary, improve on this law. Now’s the time to keep our focus on the most urgent challenge of our time: putting people back to work, paying down our debt, and building an economy where people can have confidence that if they work hard, they can get ahead.”

This video was published to YouTube by the White House on Thursday, June 28, 2012.