Over the weekend, embattled former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Hillary Clinton would “step on the gas” when it came to implementing Obamacare. While serving in the President’s Cabinet, Sebelius was in charge of implementing the Affordable Care Act – a colossal technological failure that wasted hundreds of millions of dollars. In addition, premiums for Americans around the country have skyrocketed and support for the law is at an all time low; an Associated Press-GfK poll found that only 28 percent of Americans support the law while 43 percent disapprove of it.
Hillary Clinton is, of course, famous for attempting to pass her own version of health care reform in the mid-1990s. Dubbed HillaryCare, Clinton’s plan served as the base for Obamacare and faced a similar criticism – Hillary did not consult Republicans or key stakeholder groups when crafting the policy. Clinton was also instrumental in getting the Obama Cabinet on board with Obamacare this time around.
Given that background, it will be hard for Clinton to convince voters that Secretary Sebelius’ assessment isn’t spot on.