Apparently that’s easier than defending the Senate bill on its merits.
Republicans spent years promising that if they simply got control of the government, they would give people access to better, cheaper coverage by freeing them from the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare.”
Now Republicans control both the White House and Congress, and they have written legislation to repeal the ACA. But their latest bill, which Senate GOP leaders hope to pass sometime this month, wouldn’t live up to their promises or come anywhere close.
On the contrary, millions would lose coverage they would get under current law, according to multiple independent estimates. Some people would be better off, but the overall effect would be to leave people paying more for their health care, not less.
Unable to win public support for this approach, as the proposal’s dismal poll numbers indicate, Republicans are now resorting to a more familiar political tactic.
They are attacking Hillary Clinton.
Like so many things Republicans have said about health care, or about Hillary Clinton for that matter, these new statements aren’t consistent with the facts. But they do reveal a lot about how the two parties understand health care ― and the policy tradeoffs each is willing to make.
The jab at Clinton appeared on the GOP’s official twitter feed Wednesday, as part of a series of missives ― each one singling out a prominent Democrat for acknowledging problems with the Affordable Care Act and then, supposedly, offering no plans for fixing those problems.
First the Republicans criticized Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Then they went after Clinton, quoting from a 2016 presidential campaign appearance:
It’s true that, like most Democrats, Clinton in 2016 openly admitted Obamacare does not work for everybody ― that the program had saddled some people with exorbitant premiums or out-of-pocket costs, and left some parts of the country struggling to maintain competitive insurance markets.
But contrary to what Republicans are saying now, Clinton during the presidential campaign actually had a plan to address these problems.