Politics

Obama to return to White House to celebrate health care reform

Mike Memoli
WATCH LIVE
Former US President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks at the 2021 climate summit in Glasgow on November 08, 2021. NBC News reports Obama will return to the White House on Tuesday for the first time since he left office to promote the Affordable Care Act in an event alongside President Joe Biden.
Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Former President Barack Obama will return to the White House on Tuesday for the first time since he left office to promote the Affordable Care Act in an event alongside President Joe Biden, a White House official said.

The celebration of the 2010 health care overhaul will be their first joint appearance since they attended events commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at Ground Zero in New York last fall, the official said.

Vice President Kamala Harris will join them in delivering remarks about the expansion of health care benefits under the law, as well as Biden's efforts to further reduce health care costs and expand access to care, the official added.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and other members of the Cabinet, which includes a number of people who served in the Obama administration, are also expected to attend.

The event will mark Biden and Obama's first appearance in Washington since Biden was inaugurated in January 2021.

In a video the White House released in June, Obama and Biden discussed Democratic efforts on affordable health care.

"Joe Biden, we did this together. We always talked about how if we could get the principle of universal coverage established, we could then build on it," Obama said in the video.

Obama is likely to return to the White House again soon for the unveiling of his and former first lady Michelle Obama's official presidential portraits.