US President Barack Obama’s dwindling popularity has been singled out as a key handicap for Democrats ahead of Tuesday’s crucial midterms. But there is one Republican punching bag that has been remarkably absent from the campaign: Obamacare.
Four years ago, when Obama’s Democrats lost their majority in the House of Representatives, the president’s signature healthcare reform was on everyone’s lips.
Since then, the much decried reform has come into force – and the White House has come to embrace the term “Obamacare”, even though it was initially intended as a slur.
In places like Arlington Free Clinic in Virginia, which offers free healthcare to those without insurance, the “Affordable Care Act” – the reform’s official name – is starting to bear fruit.
In recent months, the number of visitors to this clinic, whose doctors and nurses are all volunteers, has gone down.
That is good news, says director Jody Steiner Kelly, as the waiting room is a little less full.
"We still have three or four times as many people coming to the clinic as we are able to handle, so it's important for us that these people get insurance and get access so that we free up the space for other people who don't have any other alternative," she told FRANCE 24.
To be eligible for Obamacare, candidates have to be in the country legally. In most states, their income needs to be below a certain level.
Despite these restrictions, enrollment figures speak for themselves.
"In my opinion, anytime 16 million people have access to healthcare who didn't have access to healthcare before, that's a good thing,” says Steiner Kelly, though acknowl... Go on reading on our web site.
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