Page 8 - Florida Sentinel 1-6-17 Online Edition

President and White House News
President To Deliver His Farewell Address Tuesday, January 10th
President Meets With Democrats In Congress About Obamacare
President Obama told Democratic lawmakers Wednesday that he envied the position they were in to battle Republicans on the frontlines in the halls of Con- gress.
“I envy you so much," he said, according to lawmakers in the room during their closed-door meeting. "Be- cause I would love to be on the field right now ... you're privileged to be in the arena."
The president traveled across town for a rare meet- ing with Democrats and, ac- cording to members of
President Obama and Con- gress members.
Congress and aides in the room, told them to stand their ground and fight Re- publicans over every attempt
to repeal his signature policy achievements, particularly the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Republicans were set to begin debate Wednesday over a budget resolution that could lay out instructions for repealing the president's law.
During Wednesday’s meeting, President Obama reminded Democ- rats that many pieces of the law were still popular with voters, and that doctors and hospitals were worried about changes that could upend folks' access to insurance.
President Barack Obama said Tuesday he will deliver his farewell address on January 10 in Chicago, his adopted hometown and where his victory speech eight years ago in Grant Park drew more than 200,000 people.
Next week’s speech will be at McCormick Place, and it will be an evening event — meaning the major broadcast networks will certainly break into primetime programming to cover the remarks. Usually, such POTUS speeches go off around 9 PM ET.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
States Trump Won Have Highest Enrollment In Obamacare
A record number of people signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act for the coming year, Presi- dent Barack Obama's ad- ministration announced Wednesday, with the most people selecting coverage in states that Donald Trump won in November.
Some 6.4 million people signed up by the mid-Decem- ber deadline — 400,000 more enrollees than the same period last year, according to the De- partment of Health and Human Services.
In a twist, the states with the most people selecting coverage all went for Trump in Nove- meber: Florida, with just under
1.3 million selections; Texas, with about 776,000; North Carolina, with 369,077; Geor- gia, with 352,000; and Penn- sylvania, with 290,950.
Those tallies do not include states that created their own digital health insurance ex- changes, like New York and California, instead of using the federal government's Health- Care.gov website.
The enrollment numbers in- clude new subscribers (2.05 million) and returning con- sumers who had to renew their coverage and were not auto- matically enrolled. The tallies do not yet include automatic enrollments, which will be added to the total later.
HHS Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell did not directly attribute the spike to the election of Trump, who has promised to repeal and re- place," but noted that more than 30,000 people have called HHS operators "worry- ing about the future of cover- age in the wake of the election."
Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Burwell said officials have been assuring consumers that "Obamacare" remains the law of the land through the 2017 calendar year and that people will be guaran- teed coverage at least until then under the existing law.
President Throwing A Farewell Party At White House
The President and Michelle Obama will host a star-studded shindig at the White House Friday for all of their closest friends and biggest donors.
Usher, Samuel L. Jack- son, Oprah Winfrey, Bradley Cooper, Bey-
once, Jay-Z and Stevie Wonder could all be invited. Though the White House has not confirmed the event yet, the Obamas hinted that there will be one last bash during an interview with Peo-
ple magazine last month.
President and Mrs. Obama.
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