Clinton: “It was called Hillarycare before it was called Obamacare”

January 22nd, 2016

In November 2013, after the release of Unprecedented, and while HealthCare.gov was imploding, I wrote a piece for The Daily Caller titled Obamacare is HillaryCare 2.0. I thought I was being a bit edgy, linking Hillary Clinton with Obamacare, as the Clintons tried to distances themselves from the debacle. I wrote:

As 2016 draws near, the Clintons are already distancing themselves from the Obamacare rollout debacle. Recently, President Clinton faulted President Obama for misleading Americans, urging the 44th President to “honor the commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they got.” Beyond the palpable chutzpah of President Clinton attacking Obama for misleading the public and not keeping promises, Bill Clinton’s criticism about the failures of the individual mandate should also be directed at his own wife. …

Hillary Clinton cannot run away from the. Obama’s plan is her plan. All of the distortions to the healthcare market wrought by Obamacare and the individual mandate were her ideas first. In a 2016 presidential run, Clinton will once again have to defend her failed health care policy.

Turns out I was way ahead of the curve.

In Iowa, Sec. Hillary Clinton agreed:

“It was called Hillarycare before it was called Obamacare,” Clinton told a crowd of supporters at a country club in Vinton, Iowa. “I don’t want to start over.”

Clinton is mostly correct. To be fair, President Obama stole Senator Clinton’s health care plan during the 2008 campaign (what I dubbed HillaryCare 2.0), and not the Health Security Act from 1993 (HillaryCare 1.0). As I noted in the piece:

In 2009, President Obama adopted Senator Clinton’s plan almost in its entirety. Obamacare is Hillarycare 2.0. All of the harmful consequences of Obama’s individual mandate — people losing their policies, higher premiums, and increased tax burdens — were the foreseeable consequences of Clinton’s plan. Any criticisms of Obamacare can be aimed equally at Hillary Clinton. …

After the election, Obama formally adopted Clinton’s plan, almost in its entirety, even though he had recognized the major flaws of her policy. Politifact awarded Obama’s change of course with the ignominious “Full Flop!” award. …

In any event, with quotes like this, the chapters for Unraveled write themselves. Now all I need is for Donald Trump to say he will unravel Obamacare.

Disclosure: I advise the Rand Paul campaign.