Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and former Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden sat down with CNN's Chris Cuomo during a prime time special. The topic of conversation was a recent article that their son, Hunter, wrote about his struggles with mental illness.
During the conversation, one of the topics that came up was the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly referred to as Obamacare. According to Biden, it's important for the 2020 presidential candidates to debate health care.
"When Barack and I – when Barack did and I helped – when we did the Affordable Care Act we made parody between mental health and physical health. It was a fundamental breakthrough in how we thought about how things should work," Biden explained.
Cuomo brought up one point of contention: Democrats want to get rid of Obamacare and replace it with Medicare For All. The ACA can't exist with Medicare For All, something Biden strongly disagrees with.
"It cannot and that's why I'm opposed to any Republican who wants to dismantle it or any Democrat that wants to dismantle it. The idea that you're going to come along and take the most significant thing that happened in any president has tried to do and got done and dismantle it makes no sense to me," the former vice president said.
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Biden believes Democrats that call for ending the ACA and replacing it with Medicare For All are sincere in their beliefs.
"Starting over would be, I think, a sin," he said.
According to Biden, the Obama administration wanted to keep the option of private insurance on the table, something that would cease to exist if Medicare For All became a reality.
While Democrats have said they want to do away with Obamacare, Biden pointed out that none of them have complained about the "results" they've seen.
"Let me say something. I notice the measures in the Affordable Care Act worked pretty well. Put 20 million people back in to give them health care, gave [insurance to]100 million people who had preexisting conditions," he said. "You notice none of them want to do away with that, right? And you notice none of them are saying that but they are saying that if you're satisfied with your employer-based health care, you got to give it up. Look, we provide a Medicare option."
Biden said most Americans didn't realize how significant the ACA is until "they started to take it away."
People take issue with Obamacare for a number of reasons. The dumbest part of the ACA is the individual mandate. People can't afford health insurance so they have to have to pay the government a penalty for not being able to afford said insurance. No one wants to be uninsured but they are because they can't afford it.
I personally would like to remind Americans were continually told by Obama, "If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor." And we all know how much of a joke that was.
Premiums skyrocketed and people are paying even more for their health insurance.
And none of this stuff is coincidental.
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