DNC chair: Er, no, I can't think of a "specific bill" or anything "glaring" I would fix about ObamaCare

The big ObamaCare-related talking point for Democrats at the moment — at least, for the Democrats whose reelection chances actually hang in the balance —  is the “fix it, don’t nix it” messaging line. We shouldn’t be trying to repeal ObamaCare, but we can’t exactly get away from the fact that we all voted for it en masse — so let’s advocate for solutions to the many and specific problems that the program is already creating. …Exactly what those solutions might be, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz isn’t entirely sure. She never quite got beyond bashing those obstructionist, spiteful Republicans in formulating her talking points, you see.

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Todd: Give me a bill right now you would introduce to address a problem.

DWS: Well, there’s no specific bill, actually, right now that I would–

Todd: You don’t view, there’s a legislative problem, do you, that needs to be fixed?

DWS: You know, I think there are going to be issues that arise around the margins that if we just have a chance to sit down with Republicans, like we’ve done with hundreds of bills through years of our history, we could, we could, we could hammer out problems that arise, but when you’re dealing with–

Todd: You don’t have one that’s on your radar screen?

DWS: That comes to mind immediately? No, nothing glaring. I’m not saying that there aren’t problems, but, there are always going to be, you know, ticks in a law that arise and what we should be doing is sitting down and working those out.

Oh, now you want to “sit down” and hammer out problems with Republicans? Maybe you should have thought of that before you rammed through Obama’s crowning legislative achievement without a single Republican vote.

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Anyhow, perhaps DWS can’t think up any fixes she’d offer on the spot, but vulnerable Senate Democrats offered up a slew of proposed fixes last week — which, actually, don’t sound like they’ll really “fix” the law so much as further encumber and complicate it from it’s intended designs, but it’s the messaging that matters, right?

Several centrist Senate Democrats, including some up for re-election this fall, are planning to push for changes to the Affordable Care Act—a move that has stirred debate within the party about whether making these fixes would keep the spotlight trained on the health law’s flaws. …

Among the proposals likely to be included is one backed by Messrs. Begich and Warner offering a new kind of insurance plan, a “copper” plan featuring lower premiums and higher out-of-pocket costs than the “bronze,” “silver” and “gold” options on the government-run health-care exchanges.

Lawmakers also would like to make health care more affordable for small businesses by expanding certain tax credits and making them available for longer. And Mr. Warner said on Fox News earlier this week that he favors enabling the sale of health insurance across state lines, an idea that has garnered interest among House Republicans as well.

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Beege Welborn 5:00 PM | December 24, 2024
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