With his signature health care law under attack, President Obama used the White House podium Thursday to extol a provision authored by U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., that he said has already paid dividends to millions of Americans. The so-called Medical Loss Ratio, has been credited with putting money back into the pockets of over 8.5 million Americans by requiring that health insurers spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on actual health services, as opposed to administrative overhead. Obama said the provision has lowered premiums and provided rebates averaging $100 each. Much of that money, however, goes to employers who provide insurance. Obama launched his defense of the law in front of several families who have received refund checks. The event came a day after the GOP-led House made the latest of three dozen attempts to repeal, delay or scale back Obamacare. With the universal mandate to buy insurance scheduled to go into effect next year, administration officials are scrambling to smooth out kinks in the new law, which House Speaker John Boehner called a "train wreck." In the most recent setback for backers of the law, the administration announced that it will postpone the employer mandate for large businesses to provide health insurance for their workers.
