While stumping for Hillary Clinton on Monday, former president Bill Clinton criticized the health insurance market under Obamacare as “the craziest thing in the world.”
Though he dismissed Donald Trump’s call to repeal the law, Clinton said that it only worked for those with Medicare, Medicaid, or government-subsidized plans. He then criticized the effect it has had on the nation’s health care system.
“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…because… they don’t have any bargaining power with insurance companies,” he stated during a campaign rally in Flint, Michigan.
“So, you’ve got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care,” he continued. “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 then promoted his wife’s healthcare platform—which supports a public option—as a way to solve the problem.
“So, here’s the simplest thing…figure out an affordable rate…and let people buy into Medicare or Medicaid. Here’s why…the insurance model doesn’t work here. It’s not like life insurance; it’s not like casualty; it’s not like predicting floods. It doesn’t work,” he asserted.
“Hillary believes we should simply let people who are above the [subsidy] line—forgetting these subsidies—have access to affordable entry into the Medicare and Medicaid program,” Clinton said. “They’ll all be covered. It will not hurt the program, we will not lose a lot of money, and we ought to do it.”
This statement comes just as the Washington Free Beacon obtained a recording on Monday in which Hillary Clinton told donors that parts of the law needed “fixing.” And this is not the first time Bill Clinton has expressed skepticism: in a 2013 interview with Ozy, he identified several problems—including President Barack Obama’s promise that people could keep their insurance plans under Obamacare.
Bill Clinton’s press secretary, Angel Urena, nevertheless defended the former president by citing his previous support for Obamacare.
“President Clinton spoke about the importance of the [Affordable Care Act] and the good it has done to expand coverage for millions of Americans,” Urena noted in a Tuesday statement to CNN. “And while he was slightly short-handed, it’s clear to everyone, including President Obama, that improvements are needed.”
