The New York Times: on Health Care


Bill Weld: Tweak ObamaCare with more free market and more choices

Q: How to improve Obama Care?

Donald Trump: ObamaCare is a disaster. You know it, we all know it. It is going up at numbers that nobody has ever seen worldwide. Nobody has ever seen numbers like this for health care. It is only getting worse. In 2017, it implodes by itself. ObamaCare has pushed the uninsured rate to an all-time low of just over 9 percent while extending coverage to some 20 million people (including Medicaid expansion, exchanges and young adults on family plans). The uninsured rate would be lower still had the 19 holdout states expanded Medicaid.

Bill Weld: I would tweak ObamaCare to make it work better--more market mechanisms, greater role for doctors and patients, narrow the individual mandate.

Source: N.Y. Times on Second 2016 Presidential Debate Oct 10, 2016

Antonin Scalia: We should start calling ObamaCare "SCOTUS-care"

[In the King v. Burwell case on ObamaCare], Justice Scalia called the majority's reasoning "quite absurd" [in ruling that healthcare exchanges established by the state were constitutional]. "The court's decision reflects the philosophy that judges should endure whatever interpretive distortions it takes in order to correct a supposed flaw in the statutory machinery," he wrote.

"It is up to Congress to design its laws with care," he added, "and it is up to the people to hold them to account if they fail to carry out that responsibility."

Justice Scalia announced his dissent from the bench, a sign of bitter disagreement. His summary was laced with notes of incredulity and sarcasm, which sometimes drawing amused murmurs in the courtroom as he described the "interpretive somersaults" he said the majority had performed to reach the decision. "We really should start calling this law SCOTUS-care," Justice Scalia said, to laughter from the audience.

Source: N.Y. Times on 2015 SCOTUS decision on Obergefell v. Hodges Jun 26, 2015

John Roberts: ObamaCare improves health insurance market: not destroy them

[In the King v. Burwell case on ObamaCare], Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority, "Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them." He added, "If at all possible, we must interpret the act in a way that is consistent with the former, and avoids the latter."

The court decided in King v. Burwell that tax subsidies are being provided lawfully in three dozen states that have decided not to run the marketplaces for insurance coverage.

The question in the case was what to make of a phrase in the law that seems to say the subsidies are available only to people buying insurance on "an exchange established by the state." Chief Justice Roberts wrote that the words must be understood as part of a larger statutory plan. "In this instance," he wrote, "the context and structure of the act compel us to depart from what would otherwise be the most natural reading of the pertinent statutory phrase."

Source: N.Y. Times on 2015 SCOTUS decision on King v. Burwell Jun 26, 2015

Hillary Clinton: The science is clear: vaccines work

As the latest measles outbreak raises alarm, the vaccination controversy is a twist on an old problem for the Republican Party: how to approach matters that have largely been settled among scientists but are not widely accepted by conservatives.

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."

Source: N.Y. Times 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Feb 3, 2015

Howard Dean: Only anti-government conservatives oppose vaccines

As the latest measles outbreak raises alarm, the vaccination controversy is a twist on an old problem for the Republican Party: how to approach matters that have largely been settled among scientists but are not widely accepted by conservatives.

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.

Source: N.Y. Times 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Feb 3, 2015

Mike Huckabee: Vaccines don't cause autism; I get vaccinated myself

The vaccine question surfaced in the 2012 Republican primary when rivals of Rick Perry, then the Texas governor, pounced on him for issuing an executive order requiring sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus--the first regulation of its kind in the country. One of his opponents, Michele Bachmann, a congresswoman in Minnesota, went as far as saying the vaccine could cause "mental retardation," a claim with no scientific merit. But in a sign of the issue's political weight, Perry apologized for the mandate.

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.

Source: N.Y. Times 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Feb 3, 2015

Rick Perry: Increase immunization rates as part of protecting life

The vaccine question surfaced in the 2012 Republican primary when rivals of Rick Perry, then the Texas governor, pounced on him for issuing an executive order requiring sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus--the first regulation of its kind in the country. One of his opponents, Michele Bachmann, a congresswoman in Minnesota, went as far as saying the vaccine could cause "mental retardation," a claim with no scientific merit. But in a sign of the issue's political weight, Perry apologized for the mandate.

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.

Source: N.Y. Times 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Feb 3, 2015

  • The above quotations are from Media coverage of political races in The New York Times.
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2020 Presidential contenders on Health Care:
  Republicans:
Gov.John Kasich(OH)
V.P.Mike Pence(IN)
Pres.Donald Trump(NY)
Gov.Bill Weld(MA)
Democrats:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO)
V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE)
Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN)
Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX)
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC)
Rep.John Delaney (D-MD)
Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK)
Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Gov.Larry Hogan (D-MD)
Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX)
Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA)
Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Marianne Williamson (D-CA)
CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY)

2020 Third Party Candidates:
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Gov.John Kasich (R-OH)
V.P.Mike Pence (R-IN)
Howard Schultz(I-WA)
Pres.Donald Trump (R-NY)
V.C.Arvin Vohra (L-MD)
Gov.Bill Weld (L-MA)
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Page last updated: May 20, 2019