October 4, 2016 | No Comments
Bill Clinton took a surprising jab at President Barack Obama’s signature health care law during a campaign stop in Flint, Mich., on Monday night, saying it didn’t do enough to control the cost of coverage for middle-class consumers who don’t qualify for federal subsidies.
While praising the law for insuring millions of Americans eligible for Medicaid or federal subsidies, Clinton said it many middle-class people were still unable to afford coverage and talked up his wife’s plan to allow people to buy into Medicare.
“The people who are getting killed on this deal are small business people and individuals who make just a little too much to get any of these subsidies because they’re not organized,” he said. “They don’t have any bargaining power with insurance companies so they’re getting whacked.
“So you’ve got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care and then the people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It’s the craziest thing in the world,”
Hillary Clinton has embraced Obamacare and has said she wants to “build onto its successes.” While acknowledging problems like rising drug costs, she has criticized her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, for his repeated promise to repeal the law.
Trump’s campaign, meanwhile, seized on Bill Clinton’s remarks as evidence that Obamacare “doesn’t work.”
“Even Democrats like Bill Clinton are coming to realize just what bad public policy Obamacare really is,” said campaign spokesman Jason Miller. “Unfortunately for the millions of Americans struggling with higher health care costs, all Hillary Clinton is proposing to do is double down on this failed law and reheat unrealistic proposals that were too liberal to pass when Democrats held a filibuster-proof Senate majority.”
A spokesman for Bill Clinton, Angel Urena, said his description of the law’s shortfalls “is being taken out of context.”
“While he was slightly short-handed,” Urena said, “it’s clear to everyone, including President Obama, that improvements are needed. That’s why Secretary Clinton has proposed measures including tax relief to cover excessive out-of-pocket costs, a public option and Medicare buy-in for those over 55. She’ll build on the progress we’ve made by increasing competition, choice, affordability and the number of Americans with insurance.”
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday at the daily press briefing that “President Obama has, of course, acknowledged that, with cooperation from Democrats and Republicans in Congress, there are some things that could be done to further strengthen the law.”
He added, “The Affordable Care Act continues to be a source of pride for people who work in the administration. That’s our position. You’d have to talk to president Clinton about exactly what message he was trying to send.”
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