Will develop and bring rain, wind and cooler temperatures to many areas across the northeast coast. There is the rain. 68 down to 57. And 55, breezy and much cooler here this coming week. That rain develops as the storm intensifies wednesday and thursday from boston down to new york, and well be dealing with quite a bit of rain through the middle of the week. Thank you very much. A reminder to our audience about this time we normally say good goodbye, but were not going to do so today because were expecting word from the president regarding the president s Signature Healthcare act known as obamacare. The president will come out shortly, and well hear specifically about the plan that has to be fixed known as obamacare. This is a choreographyed event for the cameras. They wanted to show despite the glitches in the system it is working. Those gathering are those that the president will point to say, even though there have been glitches with the system. Even though you have difficulties logging on these are people who now have insurance if the website and the Affordable Care act has not been put in place. Mike viqueira, your thoughts about the president comes out . Reporter a couple of things. There is the real world and then politics. Lets start with the real world. They will tell us that 19 Million People have tied to get on this to website. 5,000 americans without insurance have applied to get in these marketplaces to chews an insurance policy to buy insurance. What the president will not tell us, and now were going into the rose garden. Ms. Janice baker. Obama everybody have a seat. Hello, m my name is janice baker. I have the privilege to say that i am the first person in the state of delaware to enroll for Health Insurance through the new marketplace. Like many [applause] like many consumers out there it took me a number of frustrating attempts before i could apply. I kept trying because i needed access to the new healthcare options. I had applied to three private Insurance Companies only to be rejected due to preexisting health conditions. I am too young for medicare but too old not to have some health issues. I was able to find a policy im thrilled with saving 150 a month and lower deductibles than my previous policy that i held through my Small Business. Im here to urge others who need insurance like me to tell them to have patience with such a new system. Without this ability to get insurance i know a single hospital stay could have bankrupted me and my business. Thank you all. I am now honored to introduce the president of the United States. Obama thank you. Thank you. [applause] obama thank you, thank you, everybody. Thank you, janice, and thanks to everybody here for coming on this beautiful day. Welcome to the white house. About three weeks ago as the federal Government Shutdown the Affordable Care act Health Insurance marketplaces opened across the country. Well, weve now got the Government Back open for the American People, and today i want to talk about how were going to get the marketplace running at full steam as well. Im joined today by folks who have benefited by the Affordable Care act already, who are helping their fellow citizens learn about what this law means for them and how they can get covered. Of course, you probably heard that healthcare. Gov , the new website where people can apply for Health Insurance, browse and buy affordable plans in most states has not worked as smoothly as it was supposed to work. The number of people who have visited the site has been overwhelming which has aggravated some of these underlying problems. Despite all that thousands of people are signing up, and saving money as we speak. Many americans with preexist conditions, like janice, are discovering that they can finally get Health Insurance like everybody else. Today i want to speak to every american who is looking to get affordable Health Insurance. I want you to know what is available to you, and why it may be a good deal for you. And for those who have had problems with the website i want to tell what you were doing to make it work better, and how you can sign up to get covered in other ways. But first i do that let me remind everybody that the Affordable Care act is not just a website. Its much more. For the vast majority of americans, for 85 of americans who already have Health Insurance through your employer or medicare or medicaid, you dont need to sign up for coverage through a website at all. Youve already got coverage. What the Affordable Care act does for you is to provide you with new benefits and protections that have been in place for some time. You may not know it, but you are already benefiting from these provisions in the law. For example, because of the Affordable Care act young peop people, theyve been able to stay on their parents plans until theyre 26. Millions of other young people are currently benefiting from that part of the law. Another part of the Affordable Care act is providing seniors with deeper discounts on prescription medicine. Billions of dollars have been saved by seniors already. Thats part of the law. Its already in place. Its happening right now. Already because of the Affordable Care act Preventive Care like maam glance and Birth Control are free through your employers. Thats part of this law. [applause] so there are a wide range of Consumer Protection and benefits that you already have if you have Health Insurance. You may not have noticed them but youve got them, and theyre not going anywhere, and theyre not dependent on a website. Here is another thing that the Affordable Care act does. In states where governors and legislature has wisely allowed it, the Affordable Care act provides the opportunity for Many Americans to get covered under medicaid for the first time. So in oregon, for example, thats helped cut the number of uninsured people by 10 just in the last three weeks. Think about that, thats 56,000 more americans who now have healthcare. [applause] that doesnt depend on a website. Now, if youre one of the 15 of americans who dont have Health Insurance, either because you cant afford it or because your employer doesnt offer it, or because youre a Small Business person. You have to go out on the individual market and buy it on your own and its just too expensive, october 1st was an important date. Thats when we opened the new marketplaces where people without Health Insurance or who cant afford Health Insurance or who arent part of a group plan will finally start getting affordable coverage. The idea is simple. By enrolling what were calling these marketplaces you become part of a big group plan. As if you were working for a big employer. A statewide group plan that spreads risk between sick people and healthy people, between young and old, and then bargains on your behalf for the best deal on healthcare. What weve done is essentially create a competition where there wasnt competition before. We created these big group plans, and now insures are really interested in getter your business. Insurers have created new healthcare plans with new choices to be made available through these marketplaces. As a result of this choice and this competition prices have come down. When you add the new tax credits that many people are eligible for through the law, then the prices come down even further. So one study shows that through new options created by the Affordable Care act nearly six in ten uninsureed americans will find that they can get covered for less than 100 a month. Think about that. Through the marketplaces you can get Health Insurance for what may be the equivalent of your cell phone bill. Or your cable bill. Thats a good deal. So the fact is the product of the Affordable Care act for people without Health Insurance is quality Health Insurance thats affordable. That product is working. Its really good. And it turns out there is a massive demand for it. So far the National Website healthcare. Gov has been visited nearly 20 million times. 20 million times. [applause] and theres great demand at the state level as well because there are a bunch of States Running their own marketplaces. We know that nearly onethird of the people applying in connecticut and maryland, for example, are under 35 years old. They understand that they can get a good deal at low costs, have the security of healthcare, and this is not just for old folks like me, but Everybody Needs good quality Health Insurance. In all told half a Million Consumers across the country have successfully submitted applications through federal and state marketplaces. And many of those applications are not just for individuals. Its for their entire families. Even more people are already looking to potentially take advantage of the high quality affordable insurance that is provided through the Affordable Care act. Let me recap here. The product is good. The insurance being offered is good. Its high quality and affordable. People can save money, significant money by getting insurance provided through these marketplaces. We know that the demand is there. People are rushing to see what is available. And people who have had a chance to enroll are thrilled with the result. Every day people stuck with sky high premiums because of preexisting conditions are getting Affordable Care for the first time or they are finding theyre saving a lot of money. Every day women are buying coverage that does not charge them higher premiums than men for the same care. [applause] every day people are discovering that insurance plans that cover maternity care, reproductive care. You just heard janice who had been turned down by two or three insurances because of preexisting conditions. Now shes covered and she wont have to worry that one event will destroy her business that she has worked so hard to build. I just heard from jess is a stanford from washington state. This is what she wrote i am a single mom, no child support, self employed, and i have not had insurance for 15 years because its too expensive. My son has adhd and requires regular doctor visits, and his medicine alone cost 250 per month. Ive had ongoing tendinitis problem due to my line of work that i havent had treated. Now finally we get to have coverage because of the aca for 169 a month. I was crying the other day when i signed up, so much stress lifted. That is not untypical for a lot of folks like jessica who have been struggling without Health Insurance. Thats what the Affordable Care act is all about. The point is the essence of the law, the Health Insurance available to people is working just fine. In some cases actually its exceeding expectations. The prices are lower than expected, the choice is greater than we expected. But the problem has been that the website that is supposed to make it ease to apply for and purchase the insurance is not working the way it should for everybody. There is no sugarcoating it. The website has been too slow. People have been getting stuck during the application process, and i think its fair to say that nobody is more frustrated by that than i am precisely because the product is good, i want the cash registers to work, i want the checkout lines to be smooth, so i want people to be able to get this great product. There is no excuse for the problems. These problems are getting fixed. But while were working out the kinks in the system i want everybody to understand the nature of the problem. First of all even with all the problems at healthcare. Gov the website is still working for a lot of people. Just not as quick or efficient or consistent as we want. Although many of these folks have found that they have to wait longer than they wanted once they complete the process theyre very happy with the deal thats available to them. Just like janice is. Second, i want everybody to remember that were only three weeks into a sixmonth open Enrollment Period when you can buy these new plans. [applause] keep in mind the insurance doesnt start until january 1st. Thats the earliest that the insurance can kick in. No one who decides to purchase the plan has to pay their first premium until december 15th. And unlike the day after thanksgiving sales for the latest playstation or flat screen t. V. s the insurance plans dont run out. Theyre not going to sell out. Theyll be available through the marketplace. [applause] throughout the open Enrollment Period. The prices that insurers have set will not change. So everybody who wants insurance through the marketplace will get insurance. Period. [applause] everybody who wants insurance through the marketplace will get insurance. Third, we are doing everything we can possibly do to get the websites working better, fashioner, sooner. Weve got people working over time, 24 7, to boost capacity and address the problems. Experts from some of americas top tech companies, who have seen things like this happen before, they want it to work. Theyre reaching out and offering to send help. Weve had some of the best it talent in the country join the team and were well into a tech surge to fix the problem. We are confident we will get all the problems fixed. Number four, while the website will ultimately be the easiest way to buy insurance through the marketplace, it isnt the only way. I want to emphasize this. Even as we redouble our efforts to get the site working as well as its supposed to, were also redoubling offer efforts to make sure you can still buy the same Quality Insurance plans available on the marketplace the Old Fashioned away, off line. Either over the phone or in person. By the way, there are a lot of people who want to take advantage of this who are more comfortable working on the phone any way or in person. Let me go through the specifics of how you can do that if youre having problems with the website or you prefer dealing with a person. Yesterday we updated the websites home page to offer more information about the other avenues to enroll the affordable healthcare until the online option works for everybody. Youll find information about how to talk to a specialist who can help you apply over the phone, or to receive a downloadable application you can fill out yourself and mail in. Weve also added more staff to the call centers where you can apply for insurance over the phone. Those are alreadytheyve been working, but of the people have decided to go first to the website, but remember that these call centers are up and running. You can get your questions answered by real people 24 hours a day in 150 different languages. The phone number for these call centers is 18003182596. I want to repeat that. 18003182596. Wait times have averaged less than one minute so far on the call centers. Although i admit the wait times might go up now that ive read the number out loud on national television. But the point is the call centers are available. You can talk to somebody directly and they can walk you through the application process. I guarantee you if one thing is worth the wait is the security of healthcare that you can afford or the money you can safe by buying healthcare through the marketplaces. Once you get on the phone with a trained representative it usually takes 25 minutes for an individual to apply for coverage, about 45 minutes for a family. Once you apply for coverage youre going to be contacted by email or postal mail about your coverage status, but you dont have to just go through the phone. You can also apply in person with the help of local navigators. These are people especially trained to help you sign up for healthcare, and they exist all across the country. Or you can go to Community Health centers or hospitals. Visit local help dot healthcare. Gov to find out where in your area you can get help to apply for insurance in person. And finally if you already tried to apply through the website, and youve been stuck somewhere along the way, do not worry. In the coming weeks we will contact you directly, personally with a concrete recommendation for how you can complete your application, shop for coverage, pick a plan that meets your needs, and get covered once and for all. Heres the bottom line, the product, the Health Insurance, is good. The prices are good. It is a good deal. People dont just want it, theyre showing up to buy it. Nobody is madder than me about the fact that the website is not working as well as it should, which means its going to get fixed. [applause] and in the meantime you can by pass the website and apply by phone or in person. Dont let problems with the website deter you from signing up or signing your family up. Or showing your friends how to sign up. Because it is worth it. It will save you money. If you dont have Health Insurance, if you have a preexisting condition it will save you money, and it give you the security that your family needs. In fact, even with the website issues weve actually made the overall process of buying insurance through the marketplace a lot smoother and easier than the old way of buying insurance on your own. The further challenge here is that a lot of people may not remember what its like to buy insurance. The traditional way, the way we set it up there are no absurdly long application forms. There is no medical history questionnaire that goes on for pages and pages. There is no more getting denied because youve had a preexisting condition. Instead of contacting a bunch of different insurers one at a time which is janice and others what are shopping for individual Health Insurance have had to do. There is one single place where you can shop and compare plans that have to compete for your business. There is one single phone number you can call for help. And once the kinks in the website have been ironed out it will be even smoother and even easier. But in the meantime we will help you sign up. Because Consumers Want to buy this product and Insurance Companies want to sell it to you. Let me close by addressing some of the politics that have swirled around the Affordable Care act. I recognize that the Republican Party has made blocking the Affordable Care act its significant policy idea. It sometimes seems to be the one thing that unifies the party these days. In fact, they were willing to shut down the government and potentially harm the Global Economy to try to get it repea repealed. Im sure that given the problems with the website so far theyre going to be looking to go after it even harder, and lets admit it, with the website not working as well as it needs to work that makes a lot of supporters nervous because they know how its been subject to so much attack, the Affordable Care act generally, but i just want to remind everybody we did not wage this long and contentious battle just to around a website. Thats not what this was about. [applause] we waged this battle to ensure that millions of americans in the wealthy nation on earth finally have the same chance to get the same security of affordable healthcare as anybody else. Thats what this is about. And the Affordable Care act has done that. People can now get good insurance. People with preexisting conditions can now afford insurance. If the launch of this website proves anything is people across the country not only need that security, they want that security. [applause] and in the meantime ive said many times im willing to work with anyone on any idea to make this law perform even better, but its time for folks to stop rooting for its failure because hard working middle class families are rooting for its success. And if the product is good theyre willing to be patient. I got a letter from a selfemployed man named john meyer in pennsylvania. He used the new marketplace to get himself and his wife covered and save a lot of money. Heres what he said because it pretty much sums up my message today. Yes, the website really stinked for the first week. But instead of paying 1,600 per month for a Group Insurance plan, we have a plan that will only cost us 692 a month, a savings of 900 per month. [applause] john said that while he sawwhen they saw that they would be paying, he turned to his wife and told her, we might just pull through. We can afford this. John eventually predicted that the website will work like a champ. So john, he was frustrated by the website, but hes still a little less frustrated when he found out he was saving 900 a month on his Health Insurance. And johns right, the website is gonna get fixed. And the law works. Thats why we fought so hard to pass this law, to save folks like john money, to give people who dont have Health Insurance the chance to get it for the first time. To lift from the American People the crushing burden of unaffordable healthcare. To free families from the pervasive fear that one illness come right here. I got you. Youre okay. This happens when i talk to long. Why dont you sit down. [applause] good test, by the way, whoever was here. But thats always our goal to free families from our pervasive fear that one illness and one injury might cost you everything that you dedicated a lifetime to build. Our goal has always been to declare that in this country the security of healthcare is not a privilege for a fortunate few. Its a right for all to enjoy. Thats what the Affordable Care act is all about. Thats its promise. I intend to deliver on that promise. Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. It is now 12 00. You have been listening to the president of the United States address the changes to the Affordable Healthcare Act which is known to many as obamacare and also known as the aca saying the president is frustrated with the act and how it has been rolling out as well. He plans on fixing it. Its not often that you hear the president quote someone about something he has worked to create that it stank. The president said anything going wrong with the site will be