The chair of the House Freedom Caucus got in an animated debate over the effectiveness of free market health care Thursday, arguing that a “clean repeal” of the Affordable Care Act would be better than both that law, and the current proposal supported by most House Republicans.
“We know Obamacare’s a mess, fewer choices, higher premiums and higher deductibles, it’s a complete disaster,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said, before MSNBC’s Ali Velshi interrupted him
“I hear this talking point all the time,” Velshi said. “There have always been higher premiums. Higher premiums every year, and under Obamacare the premium increase has been lower.”
“No one is arguing that health care was wonderful before,” Jordan responded. “But what we’ve forgotten in America is what a health care market looks like. So think about what Obamacare did: More mandates, more taxes, more regulations, drive up the cost of insurance, mandate people buy it and if they don’t, they get penalized. What kind of deal is that? Let’s bring back affordable insurance for working class families.”
“There was never affordable insurance,” Velshi said, stopping Jordan again. “Nowhere on the face of the Earth is there a free health insurance market that works. If you could point me to one and say that a free market works – it’s just one of those areas that a free market doesn’t work.”
Jordan pivoted from that question, saying eventually that he supported Medicaid for the “disabled, [and] the really low extremely low income.”
“At least I got you to admit you sort of like government,” Velshi said. Jordan didn’t respond.
Watch below via NBC:
