Commander In Chief, Explainer-In-Chief Tout Health Care Law

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Former President Bill Clinton joins President Obama to speak about the health care law during the annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting Tuesday in New York.

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President Obama's health care law has so far survived challenges in Congress and the courts. But its biggest test could begin next week. That's when the online marketplaces offering health care coverage to the uninsured are set to start signing people up. The question is, will they come?

Of the uninsured surveyed by NBC and the Wall Street Journal this month, only about one in three said they're likely to use the exchanges. Obama is trying to make the argument that signing up is a good deal: "In many states across the country, if you're say a 27-year-old young woman, don't have health insurance, you get on that exchange, you're going to be able to purchase high-quality health insurance for less than the cost of your cell phone bill."

The White House is enlisting nurses, ministers, celebrities, even radio DJs to help spread that message. On Tuesday, Obama got some help from former President Bill Clinton. The two leaders sat side by side in a pair of overstuffed armchairs at the Clinton Global Initiative for a televised — if somewhat wonky — conversation about health care economics.

It's the nature of insurance, Obama said, for healthy people to subsidize those who need more care. Clinton says that's why it's important to get healthy young people enrolled in the insurance exchanges.

"This only works, for example, if young people show up," said Clinton. "We've got to have them in the pools. Because otherwise all these projected low costs cannot be held if older people with pre-existing conditions are disproportionately represented in any given state."

Clinton understands those economics, having launched his own, unsuccessful push for universal coverage 20 years ago this week. Obama got further, pushing his bill through Congress, but he notes the battle to implement the law is far from over: "Let's face it, it's been a little political, this whole Obamacare thing."

The administration is now using social media and other tactics honed during the president's re-election campaign to promote enrollment in the health care exchanges. Obama acknowledges they're battling a multimillion-dollar advertising blitz mounted by the president's critics.

"Those who have opposed the idea of universal health care in the first place and have fought this thing tooth and nail through Congress and through the courts and so forth, have been trying to scare and discourage people from getting a good deal," said Obama.

Congressional Republicans also continue to challenge the law, which was passed over their unanimous opposition in 2010. Despite the battle being waged within the Republican ranks right now over tactics like the filibuster and a threatened government shutdown, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell says his party is united in its opposition to the health care overhaul.

"Obamacare hasn't even been fully implemented yet but we can already see the train wreck headed our way," said McConnell. "Major companies have been dropping the health care plans their employees have and like. And every week it seems there are new reports about glitches that will hurt families, compromise personal information, or expose the American people to fraud."

The administration has been forced to delay some elements of the law, including a requirement that large employers provide health care coverage or pay a penalty.

On the plus side, Clinton noted Tuesday the growth in health care costs has slowed dramatically in recent years, though analysts are unsure what's behind the change. Obama says if U.S. health care costs could be brought in line with other countries, it would largely fix the federal deficit and make U.S. employers more competitive.

"This has everything to do with the economy, in addition to what I consider to be the moral imperative that a mom should not have to go bankrupt if her son or daughter gets sick," said Obama.

Obama plans to deliver another health care speech Thursday, as the countdown to enrollment continues.

How Will Exchanges Change Options For Kids' Health Coverage?

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I've got some more health care questions for you.

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As the scheduled launch of the state health insurance marketplaces on Oct. 1 approaches, many parents have questions about covering their children. Here are a few we got recently.

I am a divorced dad who has responsibility for maintaining my 15-year-old daughter's health insurance. It was easy when I was working and had a corporate health plan. Now that I am retired and covered by Medicare, I am looking for alternatives when the new exchanges open. Can I buy health insurance for just my underage daughter on these new exchanges?

Yes, you can. The new health insurance marketplaces, also called exchanges, are required to sell child-only policies for children up to age 21.

If you claim your daughter as a dependent on your tax return and your income is less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($62,040 for a family of two in 2013), you may qualify for a tax credit to reduce the cost of coverage. If your ex-wife claims your daughter as a dependent, however, in order to receive the tax credit she would have to apply for it based on her household income, says Brian Haile, a health policy specialist at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service in Nashville.

Depending on your income, your daughter might qualify for health insurance through your state's Medicaid or CHIP programs for lower income people. As of January 2013, all but four states covered children in families with incomes up to at least 200 percent of the federal poverty level ($31,020 for a family of two in 2013) through one of those programs, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (KHN is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)

My 21-year-old son is a college student, and I know the Affordable Care Act has made him eligible to remain on my employer-based insurance plan until age 26. However, if it's cheaper for him to get subsidized coverage through the health insurance marketplace, can he do so?

It depends. Almost anyone can shop for coverage on the health insurance marketplace. But your son will only be eligible for subsidies to reduce the cost of coverage under certain circumstances. If you don't claim him as a dependent on your tax return and his own income is between 100 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($11,490 and $45,960 in 2013), he could be eligible for premium tax credits on the exchange. But if you do claim him as a dependent, his eligibility for subsidies will be based on your family's income, not just his own.

It's also probably worth looking into Medicaid eligibility for your son. Roughly half of states have decided to expand Medicaid coverage to adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($15,856 for an individual in 2013) as provided for under the Affordable Care Act. Medicaid would be even less expensive than a private plan on an exchange. But if you claim your son as a dependent on your tax return, your family's income would have to be no more than 138 percent of poverty in order for him to qualify, says Edwin Park, vice president for health policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

My husband served for 22 years in the Marine Corps. My adult children are still in college, but they have been dropped from our insurance Tricare Prime. Why is it that the adult children of retired members of the military can't stay on their parents' insurance?

The Affordable Care Act allows adult children to remain on their parents' health plan until they reach age 26 in most cases. But Tricare, the health plan for military service members, is governed by a different set of statutes, and the ACA's provisions that expand young adult coverage don't apply.

Tricare allows dependent children to remain on their parents' plan until they turn 21, or until they turn 23 if they're full-time students who are supported financially by their parents, says Austin Camacho, chief of the benefit information and outreach branch of Tricare Management Activity.

Once adult children are no longer eligible for regular Tricare, they can sign up for Tricare Young Adult, which provides coverage for children up to age 26 who are unmarried and don't have employer coverage available to them, says Camacho. Unlike regular Tricare, however, the young adult program is a premium-based plan that costs up to $180 per month.

Questions Rise As Health Care Exchange Draws Near

Enrollment in the Affordable Care Act health exchanges is set to begin Oct. 1. But many eligible Americans still have questions.

Tell Me More reached out to listeners via Facebook and Twitter in an attempt to help answer their questions about the law. Host Michel Martin spoke with Mary Agnes Carey, a senior correspondent at Kaiser Health News — a news service not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

On searching for other affordable care options

Listener Caitlin Stevenson: "When the Affordable Care Act goes into effect, if I'm already covered by an employer's health plan, am I still eligible to shop for more affordable care? The plan that my job offers costs more than $350 a month for my husband and me — that's more than a car payment! Will we — healthy adults, 26 and 31— be able to find a plan that costs less than this?"

Carey answers: "Anyone can shop on the exchange. The question here is whether or not they can qualify for a subsidy of purchased coverage. ... In order to qualify for a subsidy, two things have to happen. No. 1: The ... health insurance offered by her husband's employer has to cost more than 9.5 percent of their household income or the plan, if it covers at least 60 percent of the covered medical expenses. [What] I mean is that if it pays for 60 percent of the medical expenses, they could not get into the exchange. So it either costs more than 9.5 percent of the income or it doesn't pay for 60 percent of the covered services. If one of those things happen, they might be able to qualify for a subsidy."

On options for graduating students

Graduate student Lorrie Guess: "I obviously don't know yet if I'm going to have a job that offers me coverage and I don't want to pay a fine if I don't buy the coverage in case I get a job that offers me health insurance. On the other hand, I don't want to buy coverage only to get a job that ends up covering me and then find out that I'm paying for no reason."

Carey answers: "Well here's a couple of ideas. No. 1, is there any way to extend her student health insurance for a period of time after graduation as she decides where she's going to go and what job she has and whether or not she has coverage? That's one thing. Secondly, while the enrollment period for the first year of the Affordable Care Act ends at the end of March, there are things called qualifying life events — you lose your insurance at work, you get married, you have a child. I think graduating from college would be one of these. ... [And she] could get coverage on her parents' health insurance plan for a period of time. As we know, the Affordable Care Act allows that up to age 26."

On mental health options

Carey says, "As part of the Affordable Care Act ... there will be more coverage of mental health services. ... And also there has to be parity between what a plan offers on health services and what they offer on mental health services. But this is an area where I would urge caution, for people to look at and see how parity is defined, how it's implemented in a particular policy. Because this has been a concern — the mental health parity law passed a few years ago, [and while] some of the regulations have come through with it others have not. But it's definitely an area worth watching for people that are enrolling in the exchange coverage."