Hillary Clinton to tackle Obamacare
Hillary Clinton will roll out
her fixes to the Affordable Care Act this week, an aide said Sunday, and will
do so by hitting Republicans for outright opposing the law.
Attaching herself to one of
President Barack Obama's most consequential legislative achievements, Clinton
will use events in Louisiana, Arkansas and Iowa to tout the controversial law's successes, offering a
contrast to Republican presidential hopefuls who oppose the plan.
"As the latest census
numbers show, the number
of uninsured continues to fall and Americans are now seeing, hearing and
feeling the full benefits of the Affordable Care Act," a Clinton
campaign aide said Sunday, confirming what was first reported by The Washington
Post.
Clinton feels that "protecting, defending and improving" Obamacare
should be a "top issue" for her campaign, the aide
added, and that is why they are pushing the issue now.
The former first lady has
pledged to defend the law throughout the presidential race and routinely
mentions that she failed to pass health care reform in the early 1990s.
"I still have the scars to
show it," she said of the effort at a August event in Las Vegas.
At a forum in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana on Monday, Clinton will knock Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a GOP presidential candidate, for
opposing Obamacare and declining to expand Medicaid, the aide said.
Later that day, at an event in Little Rock, Arkansas, Clinton will hit Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson
also for declining to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
Clinton will officially roll out her proposed changes to Obamacare on
Tuesday
during a community forum in Des Moines, Iowa.
Although Clinton regularly touts
Obamacare -- she told a cheering audience in New Hampshire earlier this month
that "the Affordable Care Act is here to stay" -- she has
previously outlined aspects of the law that she doesn't support and would like
to see changed.
The candidate has lately
embraced addressing rising
prescription drug costs by bargaining with drug companies for lower prices and
examining the tax on the premium health care plans, something unpopular with
political important unions.
The most concrete change Clinton
has embraced is the law's small business mandate, which requires businesses
with 50 or more full-time employees to offer health insurance of pay a penalty.
At the same February speech Clinton endorsed addressing businesses "moving
people from full-time work to part-time work to try to avoid contributing to
their health care."
Clinton also suggested at a paid
health care speech in October 2014 that people who disagree about Obamacare's
medical device tax should be able to "begin to sort it out."
The medical device tax is a 2.3%
excise tax created in part to fund Obamacare; it went into effect at the
beginning of 2013. The tax, which helps fund the law, is unpopular with Democrats
and Republicans alike, especially those with ties to the medical devices
industry.
The Clinton campaign, as part of the health care push, will also urge
their supporters to get involved by starting an online petition against the
law's repeal.
Courtesy - Dan Merica, CNN Politics
