Jeb Bush Sounds Off On Obamacare ‘Monstrosity’ In Iowa

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks during a question and answer session at the Mountain Shadows Community Center in Las Vegas Monday, March 2, 2015. Bush distanced himself from his family on Monday as he courted sen... Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks during a question and answer session at the Mountain Shadows Community Center in Las Vegas Monday, March 2, 2015. Bush distanced himself from his family on Monday as he courted senior citizens in Nevada, the first stop in a national tour aimed at key states on the presidential primary calendar. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Sun, Steve Marcus) MORE LESS
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Jeb Bush launched an attack on Obamacare when asked a question about health care and rural areas Saturday during a trip to Iowa as he explores a 2016 presidential bid.

“We’ve created a monstrosity of consolidating power in Washington, D.C., suppressing wages, making it uncertain for investment. In fact, the greatest job suppressor in the so-called recovery that we’ve gone through is Obamacare,” Bush said in a Q&A at the 2015 Iowa Ag Summit. “And I think replacing Obamacare with a market-oriented approach that is — where local and state input starts to drive the policies away from this top-down system.”

From there the potential Republican candidate offered up a variety of common conservative talking points on health care, but ended by endorsing one idea — government-subsidized catastrophic coverage.

“The effort by the state, by the government, ought to be to try to create catastrophic coverage, where there is relief in families in this country that if you have a hardship that goes way beyond your means of paying for it, that you have a — the government is there or an entity is there to help you deal with that,” Bush said.

Bush didn’t use the word “repeal” when talking about the health-care law, as many Republicans still do.

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  1. Pander, pander, pander.

    So fucking sick of this whole family.

  2. Avatar for lew lew says:

    Hmm…does being the “smart one” in the Bush family mean that your IQ is only a few points above room temperature?

  3. Typical Republican hypocrisy. Slander Obamacare as wasteful but at the same time take every opportunity to make money on the same so-called ‘monstrosity’.

    I am referring of course to Jeb making more than $2 million from his work as a board member of Tenet Health care. The same company that aggressively encouraged Americans to sign up for insurance under Obamacare.

  4. How many Iowans who didn’t have healthcare before can afford it now?

  5. How the Health Care Law is Making a Difference for the People of Iowa

    The Affordable Care Act is working to make health care more affordable, accessible, and high quality for the people of Iowa by:

    Better Options

    The Health Insurance Marketplace

    Through the Health Insurance Marketplace Iowans can compare qualified health plans, get answers to questions, find out if they are eligible for lower costs for private insurance or health programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and enroll in health coverage.

    At the end of the first annual open enrollment period, enrollment in the Marketplace surged to eight million people nationwide. In Iowa alone, 29,163 individuals selected a Marketplace plan between October 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014 (including additional special enrollment period activity through April 19, 2014).

    Of the 29,163 Iowans who selected a plan:

    54% are female and 46% are male;
    31% are under age 35;
    27% are between the ages of 18 and 34;
    57% selected a Silver plan, while 26% selected a Bronze plan; and,
    84% selected a plan with financial assistance.
    

    Although open enrollment for 2014 coverage is over, the next open enrollment period begins on November 15, 2014 for coverage that can begin as early as January 1, 2015. Click here to learn more about your coverage options outside of open enrollment.

    Iowa has received $59,683,889 in grants for research, planning, information technology development, and implementation of its Marketplace.

    Medicaid

    Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, states have new opportunities to expand Medicaid coverage to individuals with family incomes at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level (generally $31,322 for a family of four in 2013). This expansion includes non-elderly adults without dependent children, who have not previously been eligible for Medicaid in most states.

    Iowa has seized this opportunity to expand Medicaid and, as of this July, more than 62,632 Iowans have gained Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage since the beginning of the Health Insurance Marketplace’s first open enrollment period in October, 2013. Across the nation, 8 million more Americans are now enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP.

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