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  1. #1
    Senior Member lorrie's Avatar
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    Bill Clinton calls Obamacare 'the craziest thing in the world,' later tries to walk i

    Bill Clinton calls Obamacare 'the craziest thing in the world,' later tries to walk it back

    By Naomi Lim, CNN

    Updated 4:10 PM ET, Tue October 4, 2016



    Washington (CNN)Bill Clinton criticized President Barack Obama's signature policy reform Monday while on the stump for his wife, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, calling Obamacare "the craziest thing in the world." But he attempted to temper his criticism at a Tuesday rally.

    Speaking at a Democratic rally in Flint, Michigan, the former president ripped into the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for flooding the health care insurance market and causing premiums to rise for middle-class Americans who do not qualify for subsidies.

    "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," Clinton said.
    On Tuesday, he tried to clean up his criticism.

    "Look, the Affordable Health Care Act did a world of good, and the 50-something efforts to repeal it that the Republicans have staged were a terrible mistake," Clinton said at a rally in Athens, Ohio. "We, for the first time in our history, at least are providing insurance to more than 90% of our people."

    "But there is a group of people -- mostly small business owners and employees -- who make just a little too much money to qualify for Medicaid expansion or for the tax incentives who can't get affordable health insurance premiums in a lot of places. And the reason is they're not in big pools," Clinton said. "So they have no bargaining power."

    Clinton, whose efforts with his wife to overhaul health care in the 1990s were stymied by a recalcitrant Congress and the insurance lobby, told the crowd the insurance model "doesn't make sense" and "doesn't work here."

    Touting his wife's proposal to allow people without access to subsidies to buy into Medicare and Medicaid, he also acknowledged that market-based solutions would not solve the country's problems with insurance costs and coverage.

    "On the other hand, the current system works fine if you're eligible for Medicaid, if you're a lower-income working person; if you're already on Medicare, or if you get enough subsidies on a modest income that you can afford your health care," Clinton said. "But the people that are getting killed in this deal are small business people and individuals who make just a little too much to get any of these subsidies."

    Angel Urena, Clinton's press secretary, defended the former president's stance on Obamacare on Tuesday, saying he had consistently supported the legislation since it was enacted in 2010.

    "President Clinton spoke about the importance of the ACA and the good it has done to expand coverage for millions of Americans. And while he was slightly short-handed, it's clear to everyone, including President Obama, that improvements are needed," Urena said in a statement.

    The White House said again Tuesday there were changes they would like to see made to the ACA.

    "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. That's something that Sec. Clinton has vowed to pursue if she is elected President of the United States," press secretary Josh Earnest said in a briefing.

    But he insisted Obamacare remains a top accomplishment of the president's tenure.

    "The Affordable Care Act continues to be a source of pride for people who work here in the administration in terms of that significant legislative accomplishment. That's essentially our position," Earnest said. "You'd have to talk to President Clinton about exactly what message he was trying to send."

    When asked whether the former president went too far in his criticism against the ACA, Earnest responded he's "not sure what argument (Clinton) was making."

    And when asked if he wished Clinton hadn't used "crazy" or "craziest" to describe Obamacare, Earnest said, "Of course."

    http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/04/politi...raziest-thing/

  2. #2
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Obamacare "is the craziest thing in the world."

    The only honest thing that ever came out of Bill Clinton's mouth.

    Someone like Donald Trump needs to frame it and send it to Clinton's Presidential Library.

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  3. #3
    Senior Member lorrie's Avatar
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    Bill Clinton goes way off message on *ObamaCare

    Bill Clinton goes way off message on *ObamaCare



    10/04/16 08:38 PM EDT

    Hillary Clinton and the White House struggled on Tuesday to explain Bill Clinton’s blistering critique of *ObamaCare, which exposed divisions in the Democratic Party over the healthcare law.

    The former president’s surprisingly strong criticism of Obama’s signature achievement also gave Republicans free talking points ahead of the vice presidential debate.

    Clinton unloaded on the Affordable Care Act during a campaign rally Monday afternoon in Michigan, a state where premium hikes are expected to be around 17 percent this fall.

    “You’ve got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have healthcare and then the people that are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half,” Clinton said.

    “It’s the craziest thing in the world.”

    He then called for more a government-driven system in which people could buy into Medicare and Medicaid. Without that option, Clinton said, the law “doesn’t make any sense” and “the insurance model doesn’t work here.”

    A spokesman for the former president defended the comments on Tuesday, painting them as being in tune with his wife’s overall healthcare message. The Democratic presidential nominee has called for *ObamaCare to be adjusted around the edges but largely kept in place.

    “And while he was slightly short-handed, it’s clear to everyone, including President Obama, that improvements are needed,” Bill Clinton spokesman Angel Urena said in an emailed statement.

    Hillary Clinton’s campaign also sought to do damage control, underscoring that both she and Obama had acknowledged in the last several weeks that there are “real problems” with the healthcare reform law, particularly on affordability.

    But others saw Bill Clinton’s comments as going badly off course at a time when the law is facing one of its roughest stretches in six years.

    High-profile insurers like Aetna have fled **ObamaCare this year, and states like Texas and Minnesota are facing premium spikes of more than 50 percent ahead of the election.

    White House spokesman Josh Earnest was unable to explain the gap between Obama and the 42nd president during the Tuesday briefing, after fielding two questions about the comments.

    “It’s not exactly clear to me exactly what argument he was making,” Earnest said. When asked if the White House wished Clinton had chosen different wording than “crazy” to describe the law, Earnest replied: “Of course.”

    Earnest rattled off a list of achievements under the 2010 law, such as 20 million newly insured Americans, increased competition and consumer protections that block companies from refusing to insure people with pre-existing conditions.

    “I think what I would say is the president is quite proud of the accomplishments of the Affordable Care Act,” Earnest said in response to the comments. “The American people benefit from the way the law has been implemented.”

    The GOP seized the opportunity to move the spotlight from GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) tweeting that even the former president thought *ObamaCare was the “craziest thing in the world.”

    Speaker Paul Ryan’s (Wis.) office issued a release highlighting Clinton’s criticism, along with stories about rising *ObamaCare premiums.

    Even Trump, who rarely mentions healthcare on thecampaign trail, released a statement that said “even Democrats like Bill Clinton are coming to realize just what bad public policy *ObamaCare really is.”

    The blunt criticism of *ObamaCare comes in stark contrast to Hillary Clinton’s careful embrace of the law throughout the campaign. She described the Affordable Care Act earlier this year as “one of the greatest accomplishments” in the nation’s history, and frequently touts the law’s coverage gains in her stump speeches.

    Bill Clinton’s calls for Medicare for all, also known as a “single-payer” system, echo some of the former first lady’s own comments, after she stepped to the left on healthcare during this year’s Democratic primaries.

    She has proposed big changes like a government-run public option as well as the power for Medicare to negotiate with drug companies. Democrats in Congress have also signaled a new push for the public option, with 33 senators signing on to legislation to create one.

    But by calling the bill “crazy,” Bill Clinton approached a line that Democrats — including the presidential nominee — have been careful not to cross.

    Even Hillary Clinton’s primary rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), refrained from disparaging the law outright as he laid out his more progressive vision for *ObamaCare.

    Since the law’s passage, Bill Clinton has occasionally taken the mantle as “explainer in chief” to help pitch *ObamaCare to the public. But he has also voiced some skepticism.

    In an interview with CNN in 2011, he said there was “some chance” that the Supreme Court could strike down the law.

    In 2013, Clinton criticized Obama for promising people that they could keep their existing healthcare coverage under the law. He told the magazine Ozy that Obama should “honor the commitment the federal government made” by allowing people to keep their plans.

    But as recently as this week, Bill Clinton’s take on healthcare has been more aligned with the Obama administration’s defense of the law.

    http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare...e-on-obamacare

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