Video: Obama catches fainting woman during speech

Swooning woman was beneficary of president’s controversial Affordable Care Act

The president was delivering remarks on the Affordable Care Act, when a woman appeared close to fainting as she stood behind the U.S. President. "I got you. You're okay," Obama said to Allison, before she was escorted out of the Rose Garden.

Barack Obama’s long-running efforts to make healthcare more affordable is making some a little faint, it seems.

During a 30-minute speech on the Affordable Care Act at the White House yesterday, a woman standing next to the US president on stage nearly passed out.

Mr Obama became aware of the situation and swiftly turned mid-speech to aid the woman before she fell.

“I gotcha, you’re okay,” the US president said, before joking with the audience, “This happens when I talk too long.”

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The swooning woman was escorted off the podium by a White House official.

She was later identified as Karmel Allison, a Type 1 diabetic from San Diego, who has benefited from Mr Obama’s controversial Affordable Care Act.

Ms Allison later told CNN she was "feeling much better now."

“I’m 20 weeks pregnant at this point and I hadn’t had that much to drink that morning because I was worried about possibly needing to go to the bathroom during the speech,” she said in a phone interview. “And as the sun hit me, I got a little lightheaded.”

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy is Economics Correspondent of The Irish Times