In December of 2015, Hillary Clinton admitted that Obamacare is turning America into a nation of part-time workers. Moreover, she said the law incentivizes people and businesses not to find full-time employment. The statement was spurred by a questioner at a town hall, who was asking why there is discrimination against part-time workers when it comes to paid family leave:
QUESTIONER: “Hi, I just want to know why there is discrimination against the part-time workers when so many companies are going to part-time when it comes to FMLA [Family and Medical Leave Act]?”HILLARY CLINTON: “Well, that’s why they are going to part-time. That, and also, the Affordable Care Act. You know, we got to change that because we have built in some unfortunate incentives that discourage full-time employment. A lot of employers believe if you don’t work 40-hours a week you don’t get benefits and that includes; you don’t get health care benefits; that might include you’re not eligible for the family medical leave; you’re not eligible for paid sick days. So, there is a disincentive in our system that we need to deal with and I really worry about it because there is trend to try and move more and more people into part-time work; and how many of you are part-time workers?
Now, we have a woman, a small business owner asking Clinton why her health care costs have gone up $500, and the former first lady actually has no real answer for that rise (via WFB):
“I have seen our health insurance for my own family go up $500 a month in the last two years, so we went from 400 something to 900 something,” the woman explained to Clinton. “We’re just fighting to keep benefits for ourselves. The thought of being able to provide benefits to your employees is almost secondary. Yet to keep your employees happy, that’s a question that comes across my desk all the time.”The small business owner described how she is forced to keep most of her employees as independent contractors and sees many workers leave as a result for other opportunities where there are benefits.
“If I can’t provide benefits let alone for myself, I can’t provide them for my family,” she continued, adding that the reason her health insurance has gone up so much is that she does not qualify for a subsidy under Obamacare because she “unfortunately make[s] just over too much money within that gap.”
“So, I guess my question to you is not only are you looking out for people that can’t afford health care. I’m someone that can afford it, but it’s taking a big chunk out of the money I bring home for myself.”
“What you’re saying is one of the real worries that we’re facing with the cost of health insurance because the costs are going up in a lot of markets—not all but many markets,” Clinton responded. “Right now, like with so many of these programs, there’s just a cut off instead of what I would like to see a kind of gradual diminishment.”
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“But I mean that’s my point,” Clinton said. “It’s like what could have possibly raised your costs [$500], and that’s what I don’t understand. We’ve got to pick that apart to really make sure we understand it.”
The former first lady shifted the blame to private insurance companies, saying that “we have to make the insurance companies justify what they are charging because a lot of them are moving costs up without really explaining, or at least to my satisfaction, why that’s happening.
Recently, Bill Clinton even said that Obamacare has “a lot of problems.” Yet, even though Hillary didn’t give an answer as to why this small business owner’s health care costs rose, she did mention the rising costs, which highlights one of the biggest failures of the law. The Obama administration went on an incessant campaign to sell the Affordable Care Act on the notion that would decrease costs. That’s hasn’t happened. More Americans are opting to pay the penalty and remain uninsured because the Obamacare plans are too expensive. Some of the largest health care providers in the country are losing hundreds of millions of dollars, some are beginning to leave the Obamacare market altogether.
This government overhaul has failed. Acknowledgement of that is the first step to solving the problem. But for Clinton and the Democrats, that would invite an attack on their whole governing philosophy, so it’s easier to just blame the insurance companies. One aspect of this law was to get more young people to join the health care market pool. It’s hard to do that when you allow them to remain on their parent’s insurance plans until they’re 26.
Clinton has admitted that the law is detrimental to American workers. She knows the pitfalls of this bill. This shouldn't have been a difficult question to answer. She isn't the only one--Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) is "aware" of the rising Obamacare costs, but doesn't know why that's happening either.
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