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Carly Fiorina on Health CareRepublican primary challenger and former CEO |
FIORINA: Well, first ObamaCare has to be repealed because it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is crony-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete.
FIORINA: The alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that ObamaCare isn't helping anyone . We're throwing more and more people into Medicaid, and fewer and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is ObamaCare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients and customers that we have information to shop wisely for our health care.
Fiorina appears to be citing Small Business Administration statistics on the number of small business "deaths" in 2011. This was at least four years before ObamaCare's mandate on employers took effect. ObamaCare does not apply to small businesses with fewer than 50 full-time employees. The SBA defines small businesses as those with fewer than 500 workers. Certainly, some small businesses subject to health reform are straining to adhere to the rules. The National Federation of Independent Businesses is a strong critic of ObamaCare, saying the mandate is hurting their members and not lowering their cost of providing health insurance.
But there's no indication that ObamaCare is costing jobs. Few employers subject to the mandate report changing their staffing or hiring because of ObamaCare, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Education Trust survey.
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.
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.
In particular, Carly believes it's essential that decisions about care stay in the hands of patients, their families and their doctors. The decisions a patient must make are complicated, and the right decision for one patient may be different than the right decision for another. Unfortunately, the bill making its way through Congress right now does not accomplish this and will come at a significant cost to taxpayers.
Carly also recognizes that, when trying to tackle tough and complicated problems, the most effective strategy is to start by taking clear steps that we know will make a difference now. For example, medical malpractice reform, increasing accessibility to community clinics and encouraging competition in the health insurance market can all help reduce health care costs without sacrificing quality.
The Christian Coalition voter guide [is] one of the most powerful tools Christians have ever had to impact our society during elections. This simple tool has helped educate tens of millions of citizens across this nation as to where candidates for public office stand on key faith and family issues.
The CC survey summarizes candidate stances on the following topic: "Federal government run health care system"
The Club for Growth's "Repeal-It!" Pledge for candidates states, "I hereby pledge to the people of my district/state upon my election to the U.S. House of Representatives/U.S. Senate, to sponsor and support legislation to repeal any federal health care takeover passed in 2010, and replace it with real reforms that lower health care costs without growing government."