MILWAUKEE — It’s not very often President Barack Obama gets upstaged.

But that’s what happened Thursday at the Bruce-Guadalupe Middle School when Brent Brown, a Republican who actively campaigned against the president in two elections, came out to introduce Obama.

“The Affordable Care Act saved my life,” said Brown, 33, who was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease while in college, couldn’t get insurance because of the pre-existing condition and saw his savings drain away.

Obamacare changed all that he said, helping him gain insurance and receive medical treatment. He wrote the president to tell him. And in front of a Milwaukee crowd he urged Republicans to reconsider their opposition to the signature law, swallow their pride like he did, and “do what is right for the people.”

Obama came to Milwaukee to honor the city for winning the White House’s Healthy Communities Challenge. About 38,000 people in the Milwaukee area were newly enrolled in a plan on the federal marketplace. In all, about 89,000 people in the Milwaukee area selected a 2016 marketplace plan, the White House said.

“That’s enough to fill Lambeau Field, still have a big tailgate party with a lot of folks outside,” Obama said. “And those tailgaters wouldn’t have to worry because Obamacare covers indigestion from too many brats.”

Obama said the nation’s uninsured rate has fallen below 10 percent and 20 million people have gained insurance because of the Affordable Care Act.