Evan McMullin's answer: No
Tim Kaine's answer: Yes
Mike Pence's answer: Yes, I support a majority of the plan but not all aspects
Donald Trump's answer: No, open the markets so insurers can compete across state lines and reduce costsGary Johnson's answer (Libertarian Party): No, government should not be involved in healthcare
Darrell Castle's answer (Constitution Party): No, government should not be involved in healthcare
Q: Should the federal government increase funding of health care for low income individuals (Medicaid)?
Evan McMullin's answer: No
Tim Kaine's answer: Yes
Mike Pence's answer: Yes
Donald Trump's answer: Yes
Gary Johnson's answer (Libertarian Party): No, and each state should decide their own level of coverage
Darrell Castle's answer (Constitution Party): No
Evan McMullin's answer: No, and the government should never regulate prices of private businesses
Mike Pence's answer: No, and the government should never regulate prices of private businesses
Tim Kaine's answer: Yes and the government should invest in researching new life-saving drugs
Evan McMullin's answer: Yes
Darrell Castle's answer (Constitution Party): No
Gary Johnson's answer (Libertarian Party): No
Donald Trump's answer: Yes
Tim Kaine's answer: Yes
Mike Pence's answer: Yes
Mike Pence's answer: No, and the government should never regulate prices of private businesses
Tim Kaine's answer: Yes and the government should invest in researching new life-saving drugs
Evan McMullin's answer: No, and the government should never regulate prices of private businesses
Evan McMullin's answer: No
Tim Kaine's answer: Yes
Mike Pence's answer: Yes, I support a majority of the plan but not all aspects
Donald Trump's answer: No, open the markets so insurers can compete across state lines and reduce costsGary Johnson's answer (Libertarian Party): No, government should not be involved in healthcare
Darrell Castle's answer (Constitution Party): No, government should not be involved in healthcare
Q: Should the federal government increase funding of health care for low income individuals (Medicaid)?
Evan McMullin's answer: No
Tim Kaine's answer: Yes
Mike Pence's answer: Yes
Donald Trump's answer: Yes
Gary Johnson's answer (Libertarian Party): No, and each state should decide their own level of coverage
Darrell Castle's answer (Constitution Party): No
Tim Kaine's answer: Yes and the government should invest in researching new life-saving drugs
Mike Pence's answer: No, and the government should never regulate prices of private businesses
Evan McMullin's answer: No, and the government should never regulate prices of private businesses
Tim Kaine's answer: Yes
Mike Pence's answer: Yes
Evan McMullin's answer: Yes
Darrell Castle's answer (Constitution Party): No
Gary Johnson's answer (Libertarian Party): No
Donald Trump's answer: Yes
A: No
Darrell Castle's answer: No, government should not be involved in healthcare
Gary Johnson's answer: No, government should not be involved in healthcare
Donald Trump's answer: No, open the markets so insurers can compete across state lines and reduce costsQ: Should the federal government increase funding of health care for low income individuals (Medicaid)?
Darrell Castle's answer: No
Gary Johnson's answer: No, and each state should decide their own level of coverage
Donald Trump's answer: Yes
Q: Should the federal government require children to be vaccinated for preventable diseases?
Darrell Castle's answer: No
Gary Johnson's answer: No
Donald Trump's answer: Yes
CARSON: No, that's false. I have outlined using health savings accounts, which eliminate the need for people to be dependent on government programs. The plan for funding the health savings accounts is using the same dollars that we use for traditional healthcare and then the government comes in with Medicaid for the indigent.
Q: How does the health savings account work if there's no government subsidy?
CARSON: With the indigent people, $5,000 goes to each man, woman and child. What could you buy with that? A concierge practice generally costs $2,000-$3,000 a year and if you're a regular person you already get some health benefits. So, instead of that money going into the inefficient system that it goes in now, it gets divided into your family's health savings account over which you now have control.
Q: Doesn't that mean there's government money going into my health savings account?
CARSON: But not new government money.
TRUMP: [I'm] liberal on health care, we have to take care of people that are sick.
Q: Universal health coverage?
TRUMP: I like universal, we have to take care, there's nothing else. What's the country all about if we're not going to take care of our sick?
LESSIG: Yes, they could say that, but of course, you have to remember when health care was passed, we had a super majority in the Senate and we had a majority in the House. And even health care had to make important compromises to the special interests so drug prices can't be negotiated because pharmaceutical companies said they would spend millions to defeat Democrats and the public option that the president promised was thrown out the window when insurance companies said they would spend millions to defeat Democrats. So even the most important thing he did--and I'm a big supporter of the president, he's been an amazing president--but the most important thing he did is compromised by the corrupt way in which we fund campaigns.
CHRISTIE: I expanded Medicaid because it was right for New Jersey, because I had had three liberal Democratic governors before me, and so in expanding Medicaid we actually made money in New Jersey and lowered our costs in emergency rooms across the state.
A: That's right.
Q: I should point out that you are a survivor of breast cancer; didn't your experience show you that the preexisting condition part of ObamaCare is crucial?
A: I absolutely endorse that goal. But guess what? None of that has worked. Demonstrably, if you look at the results of ObamaCare, what you see is emergency room visits are up over 50%. Health insurance premiums are up almost 40% now. We're dumping more and more people into Medicaid. Medicaid is a program that fewer and fewer doctors will accept patients from. That isn't helping anyone with cancer, I can assure you. The problem is this.
Q: But the expansion of the pool allows the insurance companies to pay for the people with preexisting conditions.
A: The health insurance companies and the drug companies who helped write ObamaCare are consolidating. That's called crony capitalism. Meanwhile, people are getting left on the sidelines.
A: When I was the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, we also offered paid maternity leave and paternity leave. I don't think it's the role of government to dictate to the private sector how to manage their businesses, especially when it's pretty clear that the private sector, like Netflix, is doing the right thing because they know it helps them attract the right talent.
A: I'm opposed to ObamaCare and I've been clear on that. In addition to that, instead of locking people up in prison who have mental health [problems], we give them treatment and keep them out and that saves us money. Instead of putting the drug addicted person back in prison and having them be released and back in prison, we treat them and we have a 10% recidivism rate. And for the working poor, instead of us all paying uncompensated care when they go in there and they don't have insurance, they now have health care so they're not sicker and more expensive. Now, we not only save money by doing this, and morally, we're letting people get up on their feet and have a better life. In regard to Medicaid, however, we bring our money back to treat people here in Ohio. I would [prefer to] block grant it, empowering states to deal with those who are sick and poor, so it's not a one-size-fits-all mentality.
A: You know, I looked at that. I looked at it very seriously. Some people don't agree with me on this: I want everyone to have coverage. I love the free market, but we never had a free market. Even before ObamaCare, it wasn't really free market. As an example, in New York, when I wanted to bid out my health insurance, we had boundaries. I could only go in New York. If I wanted to bid it out to a company from California or New Jersey, anywhere--you get no bids.
Q: But the single payer, you're not interested anymore?
A: No. No, these are different times. And over the years, you are going to change your attitudes. You're going to learn things and you're going to change. And I have evolved on that issue. I have evolved on numerous issues.
And remember the $5 billion Web site? $5 billion we spent on a Web site, and to this day it doesn't work. I have so many Web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a Web site.
And it's going to get worse, because remember, ObamaCare really kicks in, in 2016. It is going to be amazingly destructive. Doctors are quitting. I have a friend who's a doctor, and he said to me, "Donald, I never saw anything like it. I have more accountants than I have nurses."
We have to repeal ObamaCare, and it can be replaced with something much better for everybody. Let it be for everybody. But much better and much less expensive for people and for the government. And we can do it.
Carson: ObamaCare fundamentally changes the relationship between the people and the government. The government is supposed to respond to the will of the people. Not dictate to the people what they are doing. And with this program, we're allowing that whole paradigm to be switched around.
SANDERS: The U.S. remains the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all of our people. And yet we are spending almost twice as much per capita. We have a massively dysfunctional health care system. And I do believe in a Medicare-for-all single-payer system, whether a small state like Vermont can lead the nation, which I certainly hope we will, or whether it's California or some other state. At the end of the day, we need a cost-effective, high-quality health care system, guaranteeing health care to all of our people as a right.
President Barack Obama said parents should get their kids vaccinated. "The science is pretty indisputable," Obama said. "We've looked at this again and again. There is every reason to get vaccinated, but there aren't reasons to not."
The White House has stopped short of saying that there should be a law requiring parents to get their children vaccinated. "The president believes it shouldn't require a law for people to exercise common sense and do the right thing," a White House press secretary said. "And again, this is the right thing for them to do both by their own children, but by also other children in the community. They have a responsibility to do this. "
Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) both have been criticized for saying earlier in the week that parents should have some choice about whether to vaccinate their children.
In addition to the vaccination debate, Bush's speech also discussed conservative policies aimed at lifting up the middle class, immigration reform and President Barack Obama's foreign policy.
Several Republicans also have voiced support for vaccinations. "Unless they are immune-suppressed for medical exceptions, but I believe all children should be vaccinated," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said. "Absolutely, all children in America should be vaccinated."
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said all children should be vaccinated, and didn't know if another law was required.
Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) helped fuel the controversy this week, saying parents should "have some measure of choice" in vaccinating their children.
"I'm not sure I'm different from the president or anyone else on the position," Paul said. "We have rules to encourage people to have vaccines in the country, but I don't think anybody's recommending that we hold them down."
Pressed on whether vaccinations should be required when an illness could spread to other children, Paul said certain school vaccine requirements were already "somewhat of a mandate," but really more of an encouragement. "Interestingly, 48 out of 50 states do have a religious as well as philosophic exemption if you have a problem," Paul said.
Hillary Clinton weighed in with a jab at vaccine naysayers: "The science is clear: The earth is round, the sky is blue, and vaccines work."
Howard Dean, a presidential candidate in 2004 and a former DNC chairman, said there are three groups of people who object to required vaccines: "One is people who are very much scared about their kids getting autism, which is an idea that has been completely discredited. Two, is entitled people who don't want to put any poison in their kids and view this as poison, which is ignorance more than anything else. And three, people who are antigovernment in any way."
"But the truth," added Dean, a physician, "is you can be conservative without putting kids in harm's way."
Howard Dean, a presidential candidate in 2004 and a former DNC chairman, said there are three groups of people who object to required vaccines: "One is people who are very much scared about their kids getting autism, which is an idea that has been completely discredited. Two, is entitled people who don't want to put any poison in their kids and view this as poison, which is ignorance more than anything else. And three, people who are antigovernment in any way."
"But the truth," added Dean, a physician, "is you can be conservative without putting kids in harm's way." The issue has more political potency among conservative voters who are highly skeptical of anything required by the government.
Asked about the measles vaccine controversy, a spokesman for Perry affirmed his commitment to "protecting life" and pointed to efforts by his administration to increase immunization rates.
Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who is considering a run for president, has noted that the link between autism and vaccines was discredited. As governor, he received his flu shot at the State Capitol and encouraged all Arkansans to get vaccinated.
Asked about the measles vaccine controversy, a spokesman for Perry affirmed his commitment to "protecting life" and pointed to efforts by his administration to increase immunization rates.
Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who is considering a run for president, has noted that the link between autism and vaccines was discredited. As governor, he received his flu shot at the State Capitol and encouraged all Arkansans to get vaccinated.
"Certain communicable diseases have been largely eradicated by immunization policies in this country and we should not allow those diseases to return by foregoing safe immunization programs, for philosophical, religious or other reasons when we have the means to eradicate them," he added.
Carson's comments came amid a contentious political debate over vaccinations, spurred by an outbreak of measles. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Rand Paul both came under fire for saying it should be up to parents whether to vaccinate their children.
The New Jersey governor quickly clarified his position once the issue began grabbing national headlines in the U.S.: "To be clear: The Governor believes vaccines are an important public health protection and with a disease like measles there is no question kids should be vaccinated," Christie's office said in a statement sent to reporters. "At the same time different states require different degrees of vaccination, which is why he was calling for balance in which ones government should mandate."
Paul, however, doubled down on his view that the decision whether to vaccinate one's child is a matter of personal liberty: "The state doesn't own your children," Paul said. "Parents own the children."
Paul, however, doubled down on his view that the decision whether to vaccinate one's child is a matter of personal liberty: "The state doesn't own your children," Paul said. "Parents own the children, and it is an issue of freedom and public health."
Paul also said he's heard of cases where children were left with "profound mental disorders" after being vaccinated. Some opponents have drawn links between vaccines and autism, although this has been discredited in the medical community. [Paul recalled his irritation at doctors who tried to press him to vaccinate his own children. He eventually did, he said, but spaced out the vaccinations over a period of time.]
Carson's interactions with Mannatech date back to 2004. Mannatech was started when Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, which greatly loosened restrictions on how supplement makers could market their products. In 2007, Texas charged Mannatech with an unlawful marketing scheme that exaggerated health benefits. In 2009, Texas reached an agreement: Mannatech paid $4 million in restitution to customers while admitting no wrongdoing, and was prohibited from saying that their products can cure disease. Yet Carson's interactions with the company continued for five more years.
GOV. DEVAL PATRICK: Well, I respect Senator Schumer, but no, I don't agree with him. I mean, I think Americans understand the interconnectedness of a whole host of solutions that government should pay attention to. Not that they think government should solve every problem in their lives. But that government should help them help themselves. And you ask somebody who is not insured and is sick, or someone who is getting buried by healthcare-related debt, whether healthcare reform makes a difference. And they will tell you that it does make a difference.
CRUZ: We've got to demonstrate that the campaign words Republicans used on the trail were more than just talk, that we're willing to honor our commitment.
Q: But you're willing to shut down departments and you're willing to take the backlash? It didn't work very well with ObamaCare.
CRUZ: At the time, you and a lot of folks in the press said what a disaster it was to stand up and fight on ObamaCare. That it was going to cost Republicans the majority. It was going to cost seats. Let me point out, we just had an historic election where we won. We've got the biggest majority in the House since the 1920s. And the number one issue that candidates campaigned on was ObamaCare. Not only did the disaster that a lot of folks predicted not happen, it was the biggest victory we've had in a long time.
FIORINA: I think that the Republican House will pass the bill that repeals it. I think ultimately this bill does need to be repealed.
Q: And you don't think the Senate will?
Source: Meet the Press 2014 interviews of 2016 presidential hopefuls Nov 16, 2014
FIORINA: This law is longer than a Harry Potter novel. It's been accompanied of tens of thousands of paper regulation. Of course nobody understands it.
Q: But of course, with healthcare, you're going to write a big, long law. Or you don't?
FIORINA: Well, or, you can go to the one force that we know reliably improves quality and lowers costs and it's called competition. The health insurance market has never been competitive. It was crony capitalism, the way this bill was written between the health insurance companies trying to protect their franchises and big government.
ROUNDS: I think the Republican majority now has an opportunity to show that we can actually govern. That means getting results. It means you go back in and you take up on ObamaCare, or the Affordable Care Act section by section--
Q: Dismantling healthcare is a priority? You don't think that's going to add to the dysfunction of Congress, though?
ROUNDS: I think there are bits and pieces of it. You start out with section by section and you do it in such a fashion that you pick those items which have to be fixed. You start out, look, there's a section in it, the independent payment advisory board, which needs to be eliminated in my opinion. The medical devices tax that are there right now has to be taken apart. So I think there are pieces in there which Republicans and Democrats alike recognize have got to be fixed.
WALKER: No. From our standpoint, we did something unique, unlike just about any other state in the country. For the first time ever, not a person in our state is on a waiting list for people living in poverty. They all have access to healthcare through Medicaid, but those living above it are transitioned into the marketplace and we don't put our taxpayers at risk. States that have taken the Medicaid expansion are betting on the fact that the Congress and the president are going to magically somehow come up with new money. They haven't paid that money for Medicaid even to the states as we speak.
CHRISTIE: Of course we do. The CDC protocols have been a moving target. It was my conclusion we need to do this to protect the public health. Governor Cuomo [of NY] agreed. And now, Mayor Emanuel [of Chicago] agrees. I think the CDC eventually will come around to our point of view.
Q: The NIH says it's not good science to quarantine people when they're not symptomatic because they can't spread the disease in those situations.
CHRISTIE: They're counting on a voluntary system with folks who may or may not comply. When you're dealing with something as serious as this that we can count on a voluntary system. This is government's job. If anything else, the government job is to protect safety and health of our citizens. And so, we've taken this action and I absolutely have no second thoughts about it.
CHRISTIE: No, I'm really not, because I believe that folks who want to take that step and are willing to volunteer also understand that it's in their interest and the public health interest to have a 21-day period thereafter if they've been directed expose to people with the virus. Gov. Cuomo [D-NY] and I agree on this. I think this will become a national policy sooner rather than later.
CRUZ: There were, no doubt, mistakes that were made up and down the line. But the biggest mistake that continues to be made is now, we continue to allow open commercial air flights from countries that have been stricken by Ebola. We have got upwards of 150 people a day coming from countries with live, active Ebola outbreaks. For over two weeks, I have been calling on the administration to take the commonsense stand of suspending commercial air travel out of these countries until we get the air travel under control. And for whatever reason, the Obama White House doesn't want to do so.
Q: What mistakes were made?
CRUZ: Throughout this process, there have been mistakes. And listen, dealing with a virus epidemic is a learning process with very high stakes. And so we can't afford mistakes. But the best thing to do is to minimize the initial contact with Ebola.
Previously, Perry had called for stepped-up screenings at points of entry to the United States. Perry had shied away from calling for a full-on travel ban, though that was something other Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, have been urging.
Perry and Obama spoke on the phone on Thursday. Obama has told reporters that he still wasn't supporting a travel ban at this point, though he didn't have a "philosophical objection" to it and could change his mind.
This Ebola briefing comes after Obama tapped a "czar" to spearhead a response to the outbreak of the disease, at least three cases of which have appeared in Texas.
But about the spread of Ebola throughout Africa: We're cutting the CDC's budget, the NIH budget. We're taking the military budget under sequestration cuts down to the smallest Army since 1940.
DR. BEN CARSON (ON TAPE): Obamacare is really, I think, the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery. And it was never about health care, it was about control.
Q: People who have health care now who didn't have it before, I suspect would disagree strongly.
CARSON: Recognize what I said, "in a way." In a way, anything is slavery that robs you of your ability to control your own life. And when you take the most important thing that you have, which is your health care, and you put that in the hands of government bureaucrats, I think you have done the wrong thing. This is not what America is about. Do I believe in health care for everybody? Absolutely. But I think there are much better ways to get there, which leave the care in the hands of patients and of doctors.
SANTORUM: I think it's still among Republicans. We have half-a-billion dollars wasted by the federal government on setting up four exchanges that have failed on the state level, with more that are going to fail. I mean, this still is a big problem for our country. And so what Republicans need to do is talk about what they would do. Whether you want to call it fixing it, whether you want to call replacing it, I don't think that's as important as saying, "here is the vision for how we can create a better health care system."
EMANUEL: I was chief of staff. I was charged with trying to produce a health care bill that hadn't been done in 100 years. And I will say, it happened.
Q: When the ObamaCare website wasn't working properly, did you want to be in Washington trying to fix it?
EMANUEL: You gotta be kidding. You get a freebie question for the ridiculousness of that question.
Q: I was asking about your competitive instinct. You say you like to fix things.
EMANUEL: That goes down as one of the more intriguing questions I have ever had. Did I wish I was in Washington to fix a website? Let me answer that. I have a single-word answer. No. Please do not edit out the sarcasm of that answer.
Q: Don't worry, it is staying.
EMANUEL: I don't want it to be missed on your readers.
RICK SANTORUM: Well, it was the issue in 2010 that caused us to have the Tea Party revolution. It was all around the issue of health care. And this election is going to be all around the issue of health care. And they are two great elections for Republicans. 2012 was not about health care.
Q: Missed opportunity now getting back politically?
SANTORUM: You know, that's the area that really was my strength. I was the first person that introduced health savings accounts, and the Congress worked on Medicare and Medicaid reform when I was there. I felt like we had the opportunity to really focus on that: Look at what ObamaCare is really doing. It's driving up costs right now. I think you're going to see these numbers not be as encouraging as the administration has pointed out.
RICK SANTORUM: Well, it was the issue in 2010 that caused us to have the Tea Party revolution. It was all around the issue of health care. And this election is going to be all around the issue of health care. And they are two great elections for Republicans. 2012 was not about health care.
Q: Missed opportunity now getting back politically?
SANTORUM: You know, that's the area that really was my strength. I was the first person that introduced health savings accounts, and the Congress worked on Medicare and Medicaid reform when I was there. I felt like we had the opportunity to really focus on that: Look at what ObamaCare is really doing. It's driving up costs right now. I think you're going to see these numbers not be as encouraging as the administration has pointed out.
CRUZ: If enough Congressional Democrats realize they either stand with ObamaCare and lose, or they listen to the American people and have a chance at staying in office, that's the one scenario we could do it in 2015. If not, we'll do it in 2017.
Q: So you honestly think there's a chance that you can get ObamaCare repealed, every word, as you say?
CRUZ: Every single word.
Q: With Obama in the White House?
CRUZ: You know, what's funny is the media treats that as a bizarre proposition.
Q: Well, it is.
CRUZ: It is the most unpopular law in the country. Millions of people have lost their jobs, have lost their health care, have been forced into part-time work, have their premiums skyrocketing. And right now, Washington isn't listening to those people. That's how we win elections and that's also how we repeal ObamaCare.
O'MALLEY: With any new program, there are always problems. But the goal is to cover more people so that we can improve the wellness of our people and not have the constantly escalating costs of health care.
Q: So is this thing going to work?
O'MALLEY: Oh, it's going much better. And it will continue to improve. Look, the larger battle is to bring down the cost of health care which is keeping us from being a more productive country. The perceptions of the Affordable Care Act will greatly change once the enrollment period comes to close by the end of March. By the end of March, you will see most states hitting their goals, you'll see our country having extended health care with more people. And all of those that have been scared and frightened that somehow something is going to happen to their health care will realize that those scare tactics were not true, that those were just falsehoods pedaled by the ideological right.
Is it true? The Facts: ObamaCare expands Medicaid to individuals with incomes of up to 138% of the poverty level. So far, 25 states have expanded Medicaid. Because of the ACA, the number of Americans on Medicaid will increase by 8 million in 2014.
That figure includes some people who were previously eligible for Medicaid but had never signed up before all the publicity about new health-care options (known as people coming out of the "woodwork"), and also includes people previously enrolled in Medicaid who are deemed eligible for another year (in other words, "normal churn").
[Those two categories add up to as much as 4.8 million people, although states don't report those figures well, so much is left to guesswork. Obama's estimate would mean those two categories are only 1 million people]. No matter how you slice it, it does not add up to 7 million.
CRUZ: In terms of whether we should have stood and fought on ObamaCare, I think the proof is in the pudding. Millions of people across the country have seen why we were standing and fighting because ObamaCare is a disaster. Five million Americans all across this country had their health insurance canceled because of ObamaCare. [Obama should] look in the camera say, "I'm sorry. I told you if you like your health insurance plan you can keep it. I told you if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor and that wasn't true." But then, here is the real kicker, if you are really sorry, you actually do something to fix the problem. The pattern we've seen over and over again with this president is he says he's sorry, expresses outrage then doesn't fix the problem, he keeps doing it over and over.
RUBIO: Well, here is the distinguishing factor. Under ObamaCare, when you turn Medicaid over to the states what you're saying to them is the money will be available up front for the expansion for a few years, then the money will go away but you get stuck with the unfunded liability. I'm not saying we should do that. I'm actually saying that what we should do is take the existing federal funding that we use for some of these programs, and we're still working through which ones those should be, collapse them in to one central federal agency that would then transfer that money to fund innovative state programs that address the same issues. But it would be funded, it wouldn't be something where states are told you get the money for a few years then we'll back away. And it should be revenue neutral.
O'MALLEY: This complex I.T. challenge had ups and downs every step of the way. There were lots of cautionary lights, lots of red lights, but there were also green lights. This was a very complicated endeavor. But the bottom line is that we are more than half way to our enrollment goal now in Maryland.
Q: Are you going to meet your goal?
O'MALLEY: I think we are going to make our goal. Right now, we're at about 180,000 people who we've enrolled. Our goal is 260,000. So that Web site is now functional for most citizens. This is an example of good week/bad week. The Washington Post called our health care reforms, in terms of our Medicaid waiver, the most significant grab-the-bull-by-the-horns in terms of controlling health care costs that has happened in our nation in 50 years. But the Web site, we squibbed the kickoff. But we're making it better.
HUCKABEE: It ought to be a priority. But the priority should have been to deal with the 15% of people who didn't have insurance rather than disrupt the system for the 85% who did and who were largely satisfied with insurance, as much as anybody will ever be satisfied with insurance. What we should have done is something that was comparable to what was done back 1982, Ronald Reagan signed a bill that was called TEFRA, the Tax Equity Family Relief Act. In the Arkansas TEFRA program we took people who had severe developmental disabilities, for example, there's no way a family can afford that. But the only way for them to qualify for Medicaid would be to impoverish the family. Well, that doesn't make sense. So, what we should say is it's going to be reasonable premium, a reasonable deductible, and a reasonable co-pay, then the government would subsidize those people whose medical expenses are extraordinary.
WALKER: I think long-term a much better option for us here in Wisconsin and across the country is to replace it with something market-driven. But for us, we didn't take the Medicaid expansion. We didn't do a state exchange. But long-term we can't go back to the status quo. What we need to do is go to a market-driven position.
CHRISTIE: Anybody who has run anything in their lives could see this coming a mile away. And that's why we didn't do a state based health exchange. We didn't do it because we could see that this whole program was going to be a problem. So let's own up, tell the truth about what's going on. Then they can worry about working something out to fix the problem--not working out of a fantasy that these are not major problems. Lots of us have been saying all along about the fact that this was just too big for the government to handle.
Q: You didn't set up an exchange, but you did accept the expansion of Medicaid under ObamaCare.
CHRISTIE: I do what's best for the people of New Jersey every day. And expanding Medicaid in N.J. was a relatively small expansion. It's going to benefit N.J.'s budget.
CHRISTIE: I think ObamaCare was a mistake. And I've said that right from the beginning. I think it's a failed policy. That's why we did not institute state-based exchanges. And you could see exactly why when you see the disaster that's happening right now. The fact of the matter is the president didn't tell folks the truth about what was going to happen with their own private insurance policies. And what I urged them to do, is tell people the truth. That's the thing they expect. And I think that's why we've gotten the support we've gotten in NJ. Because whether it's good news or bad news, I tell folks in NJ the hard truth they need to hear. And even when they disagree with me, they've come around to support me. Because they say at least this guy is looking us in the eye and telling us the truth. I think the president failed that test, unfortunately, on ObamaCare.
PAUL: Nearly 90% of them are signing up for Medicaid, free health insurance from the government. My concern is not that we shouldn't help people. I do want to help these people to get insurance. But there is going to be a cost. So I see the positive, but I also see the negative. And the real problem is we're driving everyone out of the individual market. Where there were once hundreds of plans that you could choose from, there's now four government-mandated plans. If your insurance is not as good as them, or even if it's too good, you can't buy it.
Q: If the web site problems are fixed, will ObamaCare work?
PAUL: You know, I think government is inherently inept, because they don't work on a profit motive. Government has to do certain things. But government shouldn't take on new things to do when it's not managing what it has now.
BUSH: Tactically it was a mistake to focus on something that couldn't be achieved. I would argue that allowing ObamaCare to be implemented, two things would happen. One, it would be so dysfunctional if it was implemented faithfully. Or it couldn't be implemented because the government is not capable of doing it. It looks like that, the latter rather than the former, may be happening.
Ted Cruz said, "Let's not agree to a funding resolution unless ObamaCare is defunded." Your message be to Ted Cruz?
BUSH: I think the best way to repeal ObamaCare is to have an alternative. We could do this in a much lower cost with improved quality based on free market principles. And show how ObamaCare, flawed to its core, doesn't work. It might actually be a politically better approach to see the massive dysfunction.
(VIDEO) BEN CARSON: I have to tell you, ObamaCare is really, I think, the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery. And it is in a way, it is slavery in a way.(END VIDEO)
Sen. ROB PORTMAN: Well, he's a doctor who feels passionately about this issue, obviously.
PORTMAN: I oppose ObamaCare. I think we ought to repeal it and replace it. And I think most Americans agree with that. But we can minimize the damage in this process by doing certain things that were consistent with the original ObamaCare, like making people verify their income when they go on the exchanges. Q: Is that helpful to the debate about ObamaCare?
PORTMAN: Well, I think what would be helpful is if we sat down and figured out how to make this less damaging to American families and to our American economy, because it is a huge problem. By the way, it's not just a glitch in terms of the rollout, it's a breakdown--having tried myself to get on yesterday. So there are huge problems with it, but let's be honest, and we oughta be sure that we can minimize the damage.
PAUL: Well, because it's Congress's job to oversee spending. The power of the purse resides with Congress and they fund programs every year. So it's not their obligation once something is law to never change it. So it's a silly argument for Democrats to say, "Oh, the law has been passed. We can't ever change it." Well that's what Congress's job is.
Q: You talk about compromise a lot with regard to ObamaCare. What part of ObamaCare do you like and want to keep?
PAUL: I don't really like any of ObamaCare. But I realize I'm not going to get my way. But we do control a third of the government. People did elect us to fight. I'm supposed to go and fight to make bills either less bad or make them better if possible. So I think it is my job to stand up and provide oversight for legislation. It's precisely what Congress is supposed to be doing. This is Congress's job.
HUNTSMAN: I think the end game, partially is we don't see a government shutdown. You basically see guys who have been able to stand up and talk sanity. But it will be important to see how this is executed throughout the states. You have 17 exchanges that are going to be up and running on Tuesday. We created the first one in the state of Utah. It has about 240 individual policies that can be accessed. 300 small businesses are ready to buy into it. I think it will be a very important experiment this year. Politics aside, we now move into the real world of economics, jobs, and competitiveness. And that means: Does it work or not?
Q: But you can't say, "Politics aside." Many would say, "Look, we want to keep this alive to 2014."
HUNTSMAN: We're going to be beyond politics real soon. And then the real world does take over.
RICHARDSON: I think we should focus on the good things that have happened with ObamaCare. Healthcare prices have gone down; those insured with preexisting conditions, that's been resolved. The issue of seniors getting lower prescription drug costs, that's good. But a lot of it is up to governors. It's up to the states. I think eventually, when this ObamaCare is implemented, it will be one of his crowning achievements in the first term. But right now, short term, a lot of difficulty. There's a lot of politics. You have the Tea Party basically saying, "We're going to de-fund ObamaCare, or we're going to shut down the government." I mean, that's a suicide mission.
RYAN: All Republicans want to repeal and replace ObamaCare. We're having a debate about the best strategy for achieving that goal. And with the government shutdown, we're talking about discretionary spending, just government agency budgets, but it doesn't affect entitlements. ObamaCare is an entitlement like Medicare and Social Security is, and so the entitlement carries on even under a government shutdown scenario. So it's just not that simple and easy. You know, rather than sort of swinging for the fences and trying to take this entire law out with discretionary spending, I think there are more effective ways of achieving that goal. We think that we can do better by delaying this law. We've already had votes to delay; Democrats have supported us in that. There's going to be a better strategy to actually achieve our goal of ultimately replacing ObamaCare.
BLOOMBERG: We're certainly appealing. We think the judge was just clearly wrong on this. Our department of health has the legal ability to do this. And we're not banning anything. All we're saying is, we want to show you just how big the cup is. If you want 32 ounces, take two cups to your seat. If you want 64, carry four. But our hope is, if you only take one, you won't go back.
Q: So haven't you even won in losing, though? Wasn't this really about public awareness?
BLOOMBERG: Obesity this year is going to kill more people in New York City than smoking.
RYAN: Well, look, our budget is a vision document, encapsulating what we think is the right way to go-- fundamental tax reform, patient-centered health care replacing ObamaCare, getting our budget balanced. We've been criticized for repealing ObamaCare in our budget. It's not as if we woke up the day after the election and said let's change our principles.
Q: But the votes are simply not there to repeal ObamaCare. And if somehow or another Congress did repeal it, the president would almost certainly veto it, and there are certainly not enough votes for a veto override. So aren't you just kind of wasting time by saying repealing ObamaCare is how you really save money?
RYAN: Two points: #1, that just goes to show that ObamaCare is a massive budget buster. And #2, I really believe it's going to destroy the health care system in America.
BLOOMBERG: That's ridiculous. Starbucks knows how to package things. They can change instantly when it's in their interest to do so. This is in the country's interest. This year, for the first time in the history of the world, more people will die from too much food than from too little food. More people will die from the effects of obesity than from starvation. And we've got to do something about this. This is going to bankrupt the country. Our medical system cannot handle it. Being overweight has gone from a rich person's disease to a poor person's disease. We've just got to do something. And all we're doing in NYC is reminding you that it's not in your interest to have too many empty calories. You can have some. If you want to have 32 ounces, just buy two 16-ounce cups. We're not banning anything. it's called portion control.
RYAN: What we propose is flexible grants that go back to the states. We get rid of the bureaucracy in Washington. We think the ObamaCare expansion of Medicare is reckless. We are pushing 20 million people, into a program that's failing. More and more doctors and hospitals don't even take the program. And we want to reform Medicaid by giving states the ability to customize the Medicaid program.
Q: Can you honestly say by turning Medicaid into a block grant and giving it to the states that you can cut $770 billion out of that program, over the next 10 years, and that's going to have no impact on legitimate recipients?
RYAN: Yes. These are increases that have not come yet. By repealing ObamaCare, and the Medicaid expansions which haven't occurred yet, we are basically preventing an explosion of a program that is already failing. Prevent that growth from going because it's not going to work
RYAN: Well, first of all, it's not a voucher. It's premium support. Those are very different. A voucher is you go to your mailbox, you get a check and you go buy something. That's not what we are saying. We are saying, let's convert Medicare into a system that works like the one I have as a congressman, as federal employees. You have a list of guaranteed coverage options, including traditional Medicare. Medicare subsidizes your plan based on who you are, total subsidy for the poor and the sick, less of a subsidy for wealthy seniors. Doing it this way, harnessing the power of competition, is the best way to save Medicare for future generations. This guarantees that Medicare does not change for people in or near retirement. The problem is, Medicare is going broke.
Schweitzer would like to create a state-run system that borrows from the program used in Saskatchewan. He said the Canadian province controls cost by negotiating drug prices and limiting non-emergency procedures such as MRIs. Schweitzer said the province's demographics and economy are similar to Montana in several ways, yet its residents live longer while spending far less on health care.
During the health care debate two years ago, only the most liberal lawmakers were calling for some form of the doomed proposals for "Medicare for all." But Schweitzer continues to argue that a program like that makes much more sense than the one signed into law by President Barack Obama. The governor told a regional director of the Department of Health and Human Services that Congress has designed a "pack of crap" that gives away far too much to the pharmaceutical industry.
Schweitzer said Montanans with private insurance could drop that coverage if they choose and buy into the state-run plan at a cheaper rate. He envisioned a system that would cover, with copays for service, all the uninsured in Montana.
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| 2020 Presidential contenders on Health Care: | |||
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Democrats running for President:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO) V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE) Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I-NYC) Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT) Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN) Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ) Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX) Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI) Rep.John Delaney (D-MD) Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) Gov.Deval Patrick (D-MA) Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT) CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA) Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) Marianne Williamson (D-CA) CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY) 2020 Third Party Candidates: Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI) CEO Don Blankenship (C-WV) Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI) Howie Hawkins (G-NY) Gov.Jesse Ventura (I-MN) |
Republicans running for President:
V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN) Pres.Donald Trump(R-NY) Rep.Joe Walsh (R-IL) Gov.Bill Weld(R-MA & L-NY) 2020 Withdrawn Democratic Candidates: Sen.Stacey Abrams (D-GA) Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC) Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK) Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA) Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO) Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA) Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL) Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA) Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX) Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA) Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA) Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA) | ||
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