With health reform law generally unpopular in polls, President Obama used his State of the Union address yesterday to urge the Republicans to move on and work with him at improving the law. He made it clear that although he is willing to talk about some alterations, he is unwilling to allow the Affordable Care Act to be gutted.

Obama defended the law, explaining that it allows another 32 million Americans to have health insurance coverage.

Within a week of gaining a House majority, the GOP, in what was largely seen as an election-promise symbolic act, voted 245-189 to repeal Obama’s new health legislation.

Forcing all Americans to have health insurance by 2014 – part of the new legislation – has not gone down well among American voters.

“Anything can be improved,” Obama said in reference to Republican suggestions on how the law could be improved.

Obama’s own party has already come up with proposals for change, such as a provision in which employers must file tax forms whenever they are engaged in a transaction with a vendor worth over $600 – a provision that annoyed many in the business community as well as Republicans.

Limiting malpractice lawsuits against doctors was also an area Obama appeared to be willing to negotiate with Republicans.

“I’m willing to look at other ideas to bring down costs, including one that Republicans suggested last year: medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits.”

In what many hope is the beginning of proper negotiations, rather than breast-beating and bickering by the two parties, Obama urged all parties to sit down and talk things through.

President Obama said:

“Instead of re-fighting the battles of the last two years, let’s fix what needs fixing and move forward.

There are some parts of the Affordable Care Act which are not negotiable, the President made clear:

“What I’m not willing to do is go back to the days when insurance companies could deny someone coverage because of a pre-existing conditions.”

Obama mentioned two people who were sitting in First Lady Michelle Obama’s box in the chamber of the House of Representatives:

“I’m not willing to tell James Howard, a brain cancer patient from Texas, that his treatment might not be covered. I’m not willing to tell Jim Houser, a small business owner from Oregon, that he has to go back to paying $5000 more to cover his employees.

This law is making prescription drugs cheaper for seniors and giving uninsured students a chance to stay on their parents’ coverage. So instead of re-fighting the battles of the last 2 years, let’s fix what needs fixing and move forward.”

Obama added that this particular aspect of the new legislation has the backing of the majority of the people.

There is concern among many in his own party on whether Obama might have gone too far by willing to limit malpractice lawsuits. Republicans, although welcoming his olive branch, stressed that lawsuits were just one small detail which would not do much to sway their overall opposition to the new law.

The Republicans would like to see greater access to low-cost insurance, better ways of helping small businesses to buy coverage, and a ceiling on malpractice lawsuits. Several politicians and civilians wonder why these current Republican proposals were not dealt with properly during their eight years in power.

Written by Christian Nordqvist