As liberal as the panelists are on ABC’s The View, sometimes you will get more balanced news coverage than you will on ABC’s actual news programs. Case in point, Wednesday’s show discussed Bill Clinton’s statement Monday where he blasted Obamacare as “the craziest thing in the world.” Since that comment was made Monday, ABC’s news programs have completely ignored the comment, not bringing the subject up in any morning or evening news broadcast because it would play negatively for Hillary Clinton.
While ABC’s news programs endlessly talked about Trump’s tax returns and ignored Bill Clinton’s condemnation of Obamacare, Wednesday’s The View actually did bring the topic up for discussion. After Joy Behar claimed that Republicans had “no plan” for health insurance reform, former FNC host Jedediah Bila and GMA’s Paula Faris jumped in to deny her accusation. Bila then made a blistering case against the program, listing all its failures:
BILA: Let me just point out one thing that he said was true. Purchase insurance across state lines, tort reform. There's a ton of things to create an actual marketplace but this is not a free market, the health insurance market. That’s why there's no competition. There's no insensitive to lower rates for people. There are plans out there but I appreciate what he's saying because what he's saying is this isn't working for a lot of people.
He's speaking to those people who maybe they're allied with Hillary Clinton, maybe they think she’s the better candidate, but they are suffering because promises were made when Obamacare was passed. If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. Your premiums are going to get lower, there will be no tax increases. None of those things came true. This was not just a plan to increase access, this was a plan to lower costs for people and the promise that no family making under $250,000 will see any tax increases, there have been 18 tax increases with this plan.
Thank you, Bill Clinton, for acknowledging this is not what you said it was going to be. If you want to modify it, Hillary Clinton wants to step up and modify it, do it. But let’s talk truth because there are people whose rates have gone up. And they deserve the truth.
Whoopi’s response to Bila’s condemnation of Obamacare? Blame the greedy health insurance companies, who were “pissed” that the Affordable Care Act was passed and decided to take that out on the American people:
WHOOPI: Let's talk truth. If we were to hold a conversation with all the folks whose insurance went up not because it needed to go up, the premiums, they didn't need to go up, they went up because people were pissed that this program went through, when you block stuff and you make it hard for people to see what actually can happen, I find it offensive and I'm offended -- not by you [to Bila]. But I'm often offended because you know, damn it, for 40 years people have been trying to get healthcare to the people who need it, and it has been blocked and blocked by the insurance carriers, you work for somebody, they should -- you should be able to have insurance.
Behar chimed in here with the, “Let’s follow Europe’s model!” argument:
BEHAR: This is why Bernie Sanders was so popular because he believes in single payer. As a matter of fact, Donald Trump believed in single payer at one point and all of a sudden he changed his mind. Everybody should be guaranteed healthcare like they do in Europe.
Despite their typical defense of Obamacare, Bila’s argument was the strongest here and both sides of the issue had their say. The fact that the topic was broached on a talk show but not in ABC’s actual news hours, is remarkable.
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