Healthcare law marks 2nd anniversary

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WASHINGTON, March 23 (UPI) -- The landmark healthcare reform package marked its two-year anniversary Friday, three days before the U.S. Supreme hears arguments on its constitutionality.

"Today, two years after we passed healthcare reform, more young adults have insurance, more seniors are saving money on their prescription drugs, and more Americans can rest easy knowing they won't be dropped from their insurance plans if they get sick," President Obama said in a White House release accompanying a report on the law. "The law has made a difference for millions of Americans, and over time, it will help give even more working and middle-class families the security they deserve."

Obama said the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act allowed 2.5 million more young adults to be covered through their parent's healthcare plan, saved 5.1 million Medicare recipients an average of $635 on prescription drugs and now requires insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on healthcare not overhead.

On Thursday, The Hill reported congressional Republicans sent a statement from White House spokesman Jay Carney saying he didn't expect "a presidential marking of an anniversary that only those who toil inside the Beltway focus on."

"Does the White House think that if they don't talk about the president's healthcare law, we won't?" Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, posted on his Twitter page Thursday. "Great strategy."

The Hill noted the president has touted the law during campaign fundraisers and first lady Michelle Obama posted a YouTube video about the law's benefits, among other things.

In an interview with Public Radio International released Thursday, Obama called out Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney about healthcare, saying the bill Romney signed into law while he was governor of Massachusetts was a model for the federal law, charging that Romney was "pretending" he had a different plan.

"We designed a program that actually previously had support of Republicans -- including the person who may end up being the Republican standard-bearer and is now pretending like he came up with something different," Obama said.

The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in June.