The Affordable Care Act may become even more of a nightmare with Hillary Clinton in the White House, says Betsy McCaughey, chairwoman of the Committee to Reduce Infectious Deaths and former lieutenant-governor of New York.
"Hillary could make it worse," McCaughey said Friday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV, referencing Clinton's attempt to launch a heathcare plan when her husband, Bill Clinton, was president. "Hillarycare back in November 1993, all 1,362 pages of it . . . was far more coercive than Obamacare."
For example, said McCaughey, a medical doctor, Clinton's plan was far more rigid than President Barack Obama's signature healthcare plan.
"Obamacare is using ads and streets fairers to try to get people to sign up. And sure, there's a penalty, but the Congressional Budget Office says 90 percent of the people who don't sign up aren't going to pay the penalty There are so many exemptions," McCaughey said.
"Mrs. Clinton would not have taken no for an answer. Under her plan, you were involuntarily signed up whether you liked it or not. And if you didn't pay the premium, your wages could be garnished, according to testimony she gave to the House committee.
"So, there was no saying no to Mrs. Clinton. In order just to go to a doctor, you had to be enrolled or get enrolled on the spot. It was literally against the law under Hillary Clinton … for a doctor to take a payment directly from a patient. Direct billing, balanced billing — against the law. So, how many doctors would treat patients for free, right?"
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McCaughey said that under the Affordable Care Act, there is more "concierge medicine," where doctors take an extra fee to give a patient added access and more timely care — something that would not have been permitted under Hillarycare.
"Finally, and this is the most dramatic difference, if you can imagine it. Mrs. Clinton would have put an actual annual limit on how much all of us together in the nation could spend on healthcare," she said.
"And if that budget limit started to be reached, it would have been mandatory on insurance companies and governments to stop paying doctors, hospitals, and nurses. Can you imagine?"
McCaughey said Clinton, who has not yet declared her candidacy for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, has dodged the ongoing debate on healthcare.
"She's ducking all these questions about where she stands on her original, very coercive plan. But my view is we ought to ask her," she said.
"We ought to get those answers before she becomes the nominee because otherwise supporting her could be very dangerous to your health."
McCaughey's committee is a not-for-profit educational campaign committed to correcting a deadly problem that kills more people each year in the U.S. than AIDS, breast cancer, and auto accidents combined: hospital infections.
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