ObamaCare architect supports Biden’s plan to expand the Affordable Care Act
Jonathan Gruber, a well-known architect of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, is not in favor of the Medicare for All health care proposal supported by progressive Democrats.
The MIT professor said he supports Vice President Joe Biden’s plan to build on Obamacare by making premiums more affordable and offering a public option without a mandate.
“Not forcing people to go into government insurance, but offering a public option like towns have public parks. If you can’t afford to have a backyard, you got a public park to go to,” Gruber said on "Mornings with Maria" Friday. “I think the same thing should be true with health insurance. If you can’t afford your private insurance, there should be a public option for you to go to.”
The health care debate has taken center stage in the Democratic primaries. Biden, the party’s frontrunner, made his pitch Monday, which echoed Obama’s promises during the former president’s campaign trail.
“Anyone who has the employer-based health insurance they like, they can keep it,” Biden said in Waukee, Iowa.
Democratic hopeful California Senator Kamala Harris also spoke out ensuring voters that they can keep their doctor under her plan.
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The former vice president is taking an approach of defending the Affordable Care Act.
Grubar said the statements made by the Democratic presidential candidates suggest that healthcare coverage for the majority of Americans did not change under the Affordable Care Act.
“That was true for Romney care here in Massachusetts, that was true for Obamacare,” he said. “For the vast majority of people, their lives were not touched by the law.”
The Medicare for All proposal championed by progressives such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., eliminates all existing private insurance for 180 million people.
“We need more government involvement to ensure that the broken health insurance market provides care for everyone,” he said. “That doesn’t mean Medicare for All necessarily, but it does mean more steps forward.”
Congresswoman Omar, the latest lawmaker to support Medicare for All, touted the controversial health care plan at a town hall meeting in her home state Thursday night.
“One in four Americans cannot afford or access the healthcare they need because of the prohibitive cost. This is unacceptable, it is a moral imperative that we fix it and Medicare for All will do that,” she said.
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Gruber dismisses Omar’s notion that the only solution to correct the health care coverage in America is by providing a government program that is projected to increase federal spending by at least $32 trillion over 10 years.
“I don’t agree with that all answer,” he said. “I think what is absolutely true is that the private market alone is not serving the interest of many Americans and we need more expanded government involvement.”