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‘Obamacare’ Plays Starring Role In First Night Of Convention

Several speakers cited the 2010 health law as a signature achievement of the Obama administration Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. This video sample includes Stacey Lihn, the mother of a child with congenital heart disease, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro and first lady Michelle Obama.

See Also: Video Excerpts: Kennedy-Romney Debate 1994

A transcript follows.

STACEY LIHN: Knowing we have that net below us, to catch us if we fall — or if, God forbid, Zoey needs a heart transplant, Obamacare provides my family security and relief.

But we’re also scared. Gov. Romney repealing health care reform is something we worry about literally every single day. 

Zoey’s third open-heart surgery will happen either next year or the year after. If Mitt Romney becomes president and Obamacare is repealed, there is a good chance she will hit her lifetime cap. There’s no way we could afford to pay for all the care she needs to survive.

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: If you’re under 26, you can stay on your parents plan. You can go back to school or get extra training without fear of a health catastrophe bankrupting your entire family. Over three million previously uninsured young adults are now on their parents’ plans. That’s what change looks like.

Under Obamacare, insurance companies can no longer discriminate against women.

Now, before some wouldn’t even cover woman’s most basic health needs, like contraception and maternity care — but still charged us up to 50 percent more than men for a worse plan. They said women who had C-sections or survived breast cancer or even domestic violence had a preexisting condition and would deny them coverage. But this president made it illegal to discriminate against women and ended the practice of insurance companies charging women higher premiums than men for the same coverage.

The president ensured women’s access to preventive services like breast cancer screenings. So the good news is: Being a mother is no longer a liability. And being a woman is no longer a preexisting condition.

Now that’s what change looks like.

JULIAN CASTRO: When it comes to expanding access to good health care, Mitt Romney says “no.”

Actually — actually, Mitt Romney said “yes,” and now he says “no.”

Gov. Romney has undergone an extreme makeover.

And it ain’t pretty. So here’s what we are going to say to Mitt Romney in November: We’re going to say, “no.”

MICHELLE OBAMA: When it comes to the health of our families, Barack refused to listen to those folks who told him to leave health reform for another day, another president. He didn’t care whether it was the easy thing to do politically. No, that is not how he was raised. He cared that it was the right thing to do.

He did it, because he believed that here in America, our grandparents should be able to afford their medicine. Our kids should be able to see a doctor when they’re sick. And no one in this country should ever go broke because of an accident or an illness.

And he believes that women are more than capable of making our own choices about our bodies and our health care.

That is what my husband stands for.

Related Topics

Cost and Quality Insurance The Health Law