2016 Debate: Obamacare failing as costs rise, Trump says it’s a ‘disaster’ Clinton defends benefits

As Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump faced off in last night’s debate, the topic of Obamacare came front and center. In fact, President Obama’s signature act was described as “not affordable” noting that “Premiums have gone up, deductibles have gone up, copays has gone up, prescriptions have gone up and the coverage has gone down…” prompting a defense by Clinton and an attack by Trump.

The question was “The Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare, it is not affordable. Premiums have gone up, deductibles have gone up, copays has gone up, prescriptions have gone up and the coverage has gone down. What will you do to bring the cost down and make coverage better?”

Clinton says that she’s going to “…fix it because I agree with you. Premiums have gotten too high, copays, deductibles, prescription drug costs and I have laid out a series of actions that we can take to try to get those costs down. But here’s what I don’t want people to forget when we’re talking about reigning in the cost that has to be the highest priority of the next president.”

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She lists “benefits” which she wants to keep despite causing the prices to soar and she set Trump up to say “Obamacare is a disaster. You know it, we all know it. It’s going up at numbers that nobody’s ever seen, worldwide. It’s-nobody has ever seen numbers like this for health care. It’s only getting worse. In 17, it implodes by itself. Their method of fixing it is to go back and ask Congress for more money. More, more money and we have right now almost $20 trillion in debt. Obamacare will never work. It’s very bad, very bad health insurance, far too expensive, and not only expensive for the person that has it, unbelievably expensive for our country.”

Trump bashes the Clinton plan, the single payer system before Clinton was asked to defend Bill Clinton’s recent remarks criticizing the law as well, calling it “crazy.”

Clinton says Obamacare is designed to fill the gap, but praised “Medicare which is a single payer system which takes care of our elderly, and does a great job doing it…” despite projections that Medicare will be broke by 2028. Trump noted Jonathan Grouper said that it was all a “lie,” the man who said the “voters are stupid.”

Recently Aetna joined the ranks of health care companies exiting Obamacare, noting the “broken promises” and “70% of Obamacare’s failed Co-Ops.”

Full transcript on the exchange via Politico on the next page(s)

The Clinton campaign was quick to give cover over the Obamacare topic:

• Politifact: “In context, it’s also worth noting that Clinton’s actual comments never mentioned the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. In fact, as we reviewed the transcript, we noticed that much of what Clinton said addressed issues that pre-dated the 2010 health care law, including concerns about high costs and a lack of guaranteed coverage.”

• Huffington Post: “Calm Down – Bill Clinton didn’t Say Obamacare is Terrible.” “That quotation, while accurate, doesn’t fully portray Bill Clinton’s argument for keeping the Affordable Care Act ― which has extended health coverage to 20 million people and cut the uninsured rate to a historic low ― and enhancing it with policies proposed by Hillary Clinton’s campaign…Despite its characterization in the CNN report, Bill Clinton’s assessment of the health care system and the Affordable Care Act mirrors Hillary Clinton’s and Obama’s own.”

• Thinkprogress: “No, Bill Clinton does not think Obamacare is ‘the craziest thing in the world.’” “in a statement sent to ThinkProgress, Angel Urena, press secretary for Bill Clinton, said the former president’s remarks are being taken out of context and emphasized that Clinton has consistently supported Obamacare.”

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