DES MOINES — Hillary Clinton on Friday brought a woman on stage whose daughter had brain cancer but was able to obtain insurance due to Obamacare to help her make the case against Bernie Sanders’ healthcare plan.
In the closing days of campaigning ahead of Monday’s caucuses, Clinton is focusing on drawing a contrast between her views on healthcare and Sanders’ advocacy for a single-payer system.
The idea of a single-payer system has appeal to a lot of liberals, but Clinton is trying to argue that it’s politically impossible and that pursuing it would erase the gains Democrats made with the passage of Obamacare. Clinton, effectively, is trying to lump Sanders in with Republicans, arguing that in their own way they’d each endanger the healthcare law.
Clinton dedicated more than a third of her speech inside a gym at Grand View University to the topic of healthcare, embracing Obama’s legacy.
“Before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare,” Clinton said, recalling her healthcare battles as first lady in the 1990s.
“I was thrilled when the president passed the Affordable Care Act and signed it into law,” Clinton said.
After attacking Republican efforts to repeal the law, she pivoted to assailing Sanders.
“Sen. Sanders and I share the same goal. We want to get to universal coverage. But here’s our difference: I want to build on what we have achieved,” she said, explaining how she would address issues such as rising prescription drug prices.
Of Sanders, she said, “He wants us to start over with a plan that would be very difficult. Nancy Pelosi said the other day, ‘We’re not starting over.’ We have fought too hard to get to where we are.”
She than asked a woman she had met before the event, Joan Hanna, to join her on stage to describe how Obamacare had helped her family.
“I want you to understand why I’m fighting so hard for the Affordable Care Act,” Clinton said before the woman spoke. “I don’t want it repealed, I don’t want us to be thrown back into a terrible, terrible, national debate. I don’t want to end up in gridlock. People can’t wait. People who have health emergencies can’t wait for us to have some theoretical debate about some idea that never, ever, pass.”
Hanna, with Clinton’s arm around her, told the story of her daughter, who three years ago had a mass on her forehead that turned out to be brain cancer. After employer insurance ran out, they were able to obtain coverage for their family through Obamacare, despite pre-existing conditions.
After Hanna wrapped up, Clinton connected it back to the campaign to defend Obamacare.
“I want everybody to understand what’s really at stake in this election,” Clinton said. “People can’t wait. Her daughter calls and says she has a mass on her forehead. You can’t wait.”
Because of Obamacare, Clinton told the audience, individuals could get covered.
“This a truly a big difference in this campaign,” she said. “And it’s one that I want you to think hard about between now and Monday night.”
The fact that she referred to the night of the caucuses instead of the November general election helped drive home her point that Sanders would also put Obamacare at risk.
