Surprise, surprise, the attacks on universal healthcare, which over 80% of Democrats support, just backfired on Hillary Clinton. Many Americans are thankful to Obamacare for their health coverage, but let’s face it, it doesn’t go far enough. There are still major inequities in the system, high deductibles, unaffordable premiums, subsidies are capped at income level, and pharmaceutical pricing that is out-of-control.
Many Democrats are aware that Obamacare is at its best a way for Americans to get coverage under rules that insurance companies have to follow, and that it still places us as a captive audience beholden to insurance companies. We also know that Hillary Clinton is a strong defender of Obamacare, but she will not drastically improve the system, or even institute a public option.
She’s already saying, “No, we can’t! No, we can’t!,” on that issue, and refuses to even fight for big ideas like universal healthcare. She will instead tinker at the margins, but keep the system in place as it currently is. And that’s a problem. At this point in our history, we do not need a small thinker or an incrementalist. We need someone to carry the football field further down the field, and that is increasingly looking like Bernie Sanders who is the visionary and the fighter that Americans need on their side.
Here’s how Clinton’s attacks on healthcare backfired on her.
"A big change in CNN's Iowa polls: Clinton was judged to be best on health care 63-31, now it's Sanders 51-45."
Ouch. Now Sanders is seen as more authentic on the issue of healthcare because people see he is willing to fight for a big idea, and to improve the system we currently have. I don’t get why the Clinton camp thought it was a good idea to attack universal healthcare in the Democratic Party. They should’ve saved it for the general since they usually attack from the right.