BOSTON (AP) — President Barack Obama chose the site where Massachusetts' health care system became law to promote Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) programs.
The Massachusetts health finance program has been a model for PPACA.
The Massachusetts program faced setbacks and low enrollment when it started, but, in time, it gained popularity and became a success, Obama said Wednesday in Boston.
"All the parade of horribles, the worst predictions about health care reform in Massachusetts never came true," Obama said. "They're the same arguments that you're hearing now."
Obama spoke in Boston's historic Faneuil Hall. In 2006, then Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Democrat, came together in the same location for the signing of the Bay State's health care overhaul bill.
Obama said important benefits are already available under PPACA. He cited a ban on use of health information in insurers' decisions on whether to issue coverage to children, and another provision that lets young people stay on their parents' insurance plans until they turn 26.
But he conceded that the federal exchanges have had problems since their 2014 coverage open enrollment period began Oct. 1.
As Obama was speaking in Boston, a notice on the HealthCare.gov exchange enrollment site said the site was down due to technical difficulties.
