Yesterday presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton repeated her stance that we would reform Obamacare with a Public Option or Medicare Buy In. From Bloomberg:
At a campaign stop Monday in Northern Virginia, Hillary Clinton reiterated her support for a government-run health plan in the insurance market, possibly by letting let Americans buy into Medicare, to stem the rise of health-care costs.
“I’m also in favor of what’s called the public option, so that people can buy into Medicare at a certain age,” the Democratic presidential front-runner said during a roundtable with local residents at the Mug’N Muffin coffee shop. “Which will take a lot of pressure off the costs.”
While Clinton long has supported including a public option in the insurance market, her campaign said she was floating the idea of letting Americans not yet of retirement age buy into the Medicare system as one way of accomplishing that. She’s also open to creating a separate government-run option on the Obamacare exchanges.
The idea of a government-run insurance option long has been favored by the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, but it was stripped from the final version of Obamacare legislation in the face of firm opposition by Republicans and the insurance industry.
Clinton has endorsed a public option on her website, though it seldom comes up on the campaign trail.