Jeffries on Dems Setting ACA Subsidies to Expire: System’s Broken

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) responded to a question on criticisms of the Affordable Care Act and Democrats for setting ACA subsidies to expire “there are a lot of challenges with the healthcare system, and we’re committed to fixing every aspect of our broken healthcare system. But the Affordable Care Act is, understandably, embraced” by most people.

Co-host Pamela Brown asked, “[W]hat do you say to the Republicans? Because I know you are criticizing what they have done on Medicaid, but what do you say to Republicans who say that what’s going on right now with the healthcare subsidies is a crisis of the Democrats’ own making with the Affordable Care Act and even setting this expiration date and the fact that these premiums would now go up so much past this month if nothing is resolved in Congress? How do you respond to what Republicans say about that?”

Jeffries answered, “Listen, we’ve made clear overall that there are a lot of challenges with the healthcare system, and we’re committed to fixing every aspect of our broken healthcare system. But the Affordable Care Act is, understandably, embraced by the majority of the American people, because they know that it’s an important part of making sure that health insurance can remain affordable for working-class Americans, middle-class Americans, and everyday Americans. We’re talking about tens of millions of people, including in many red states across the country — in fact, the states that would be most impacted if the Affordable Care Act tax credits expire are Republican-run states. We’re talking about West Virginia, Wyoming, Alaska, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Those are the ten states most impacted if the Affordable Care Act tax credits expire. So, we’re fighting to protect the health care of the American people. This is not a partisan issue for us. It is a patriotic issue, because, in this country, [the] wealthiest country in the history of the world, health care can’t simply be a privilege available only to the wealthy and the well-off. It’s got to be a right that’s accessible and available to every single American.”

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