Obama, Faint Woman Incident Makes Waves, Healthcare Speech Interrupted
Barack Obama's speech about the troubled Obamacare website saw health troubles of its own on Monday when a woman nearly fainted behind the President.
During Commander in Chief's speech outside the White House, Karmel Allison was seen standing behind Obama when she began swaying slightly as she became woozy- the San Diego grad student has type 1 diabetes and is 20 weeks pregnant.
As a result, Obama paused his 25-minute speech in order to help Allison.
"You're ok, I'm right here. I got you," the President is heard saying in a clip taken from the speech.
After a presidential aide helped Allison off of the stage, Obama quipped, "This happens when I talk too long."
Later in the day, Allison took to Twitter thanking President Obama.
"I'm ok world- just got a little lightheaded," the expectant mother wrote. "Thanks, @BarackObama for catching me! And good thing this pregnant diabetic is pregnant."
Meanwhile, Obama's speech on Monday covered the widespread issues with the problematic health care website, which launched on Oct. 1.
Allison was one of 13 people who the White House said had "benefited from the law already" and who were invited to stand with Obama as he addressed the problems with the website.
Ahead of the speech, the White House described Allison's condition as well as her experience with ObamaCare.
"Karmel Allison was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when she was nine years old," the White House release read. "She has stayed on the same insurance ever since, despite constantly rising costs, for fear she would not be able to find a plan that would cover her due to her preexisting condition. Allison recently began researching her options on CoveredCA and has publicly described her experience as finally feeling equal to others, including her young and healthy husband, when it comes to access to coverage."
As for the problematic website, Obama said "there's no sugarcoating it- the website has been too slow."
"People have been getting stuck during the application process," he added, before promising: "These problems are getting fixed."