(CNN) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday defended his administration's latest decision to delay an aspect of the Affordable Care Act, saying the move was about "smoothing out" the health care law's rocky implementation.

Obama acknowledged that "challenges" exist in implementing the massive Affordable Care Act. During a joint news conference Tuesday with French President François Hollande, Obama said his administration was responding to the central question: "How do we make it work for the American people and for their employees in an optimal way?"

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