Bill claims Hillary hasn't given him 'grief' over Obamacare - and doubles down on 'problems' with the law
- Donald Trump said Hillary Clinton put Bill Clinton 'through hell' after he criticized the Obamacare medical insurance system in public
- 'But honestly,' Trump added, 'there have been many nights when he's gone through hell with Hillary'
- Bill Clinton said Wednesday his wife wasn't angry with him - she knew what argument he was making
- Former president observed the premium costs were skyrocketing while coverage levels were being sliced in half
- White House distanced itself from Bill, and he tried to soften the blow on Tuesday by praising Obama for enrolling millions in insurance
- Bill is in Ohio campaigning for his wife; he spoke at a pancake breakfast and took questions from reporters during a coffee shop stop
Bill Clinton says his wife didn't take him to the woodshed for his derisive Obamacare comments.
'No she didn't,' he said Wednesday during a coffee shop stop on his bus tour of Ohio.
He told a reporter asking if Hillary was giving him 'grief' that 'it was clear from what I said that there are problems with it, but I supported it strongly from the get go.'
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Bill Clinton says his wife didn't take him to the woodshed for his derisive Obamacare comments - she knew what he meant
'No she didn't,' he said Wednesday during a coffee shop stop on his bus tour of Ohio
Clinton delivered brief remarks at an organizing office in Warren later in the day. There, he was presented with a hand-made beer mug that bore the number '42' and a wine glass for Hillary that was stamped with the number '45' - her potential presidency
Bill said his wife wasn't angry with him because she understands the argument he was making.
He said he'd talked to President Barack Obama about his concerns, too, and how 'frustrating' it is that the insurance markets are not working as well as everybody hoped they would.'
'But nobody can be surprised. That's why he wanted a public option in the first place. That's why she supported one,' Bill said in Youngstown of Obama and his wife.
Donald Trump said Tuesday in Arizona that Hillary Clinton likely put her husband 'through hell' after the former president called the Obamacare medical insurance program 'the craziest thing in the world.'
'And she wants to double down on Obamacare! I bet he went through hell last night,' the Republican presidential nominee told a packed arena in Prescott Valley, Arizona. 'Can you imagine? Can you imagine what he went through after making that statement? He went through hell.'
'But honestly,' Trump added, 'there have been many nights when he's gone through hell with Hillary.'
Donald Trump said Hillary Clinton has put her husband Bill 'through hell' many times – including last night after the former president openly criticized the Obamacare system
Bill lambasted President Barack Obama's signature law as 'the craziest thing in the world' on Monday
Bill Clinton told a campaign crowd in Flint, Michigan on Monday that the Affordable Care Act created 'this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care and then the people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half.'
'It's the craziest thing in the world,' he said.
He tried to walk it back on Tuesday. 'We, for the first time in our history, at least are providing insurance to more than 90 percent of our people,' he said in Athens, Ohio.
Hours later in the Ohio town of Steubenville, he joked about being 'no good' on the campaign stump now that he’s a grandfather – and a less-cautious speaker.
'You know, you need your Miranda warnings every time you open your mouth,' he said, 'because anything you say can be held against you.'
The White House distanced itself from his remarks and he tried to soften the blow by praising Obama for enrolling millions in insurance.
Trump fired on him with both barrels, saying he had finally 'told the truth about Obamacare.'
'He's absolutely trashed President Obama's signature legislation. Remember, Hillary Clinton called Obamacare one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of our country. Give me a break!' he said.
'You see what's happening with your premiums? They're going through the room. Some of them are up 60, 70, 80 percent.'
Clinton, Trump explained, had said Monday 'that it doesn't make any sense, and that the insurance model doesn't work. Now I've been saying that for a long time!'
'At least he's honest. He's very late.'
Hillary Clinton is leveraging her famous husband to help her win the White House in her own right, but Bill's stumble could cost her
Trump spoke to a crowded arena in Prescott Valley, Arizona on Tuesday afternoon
Trump pledged, as he has more than 100 times since he launched his presidential campaign last year, that he would ask Congress 'to send me a bill to immediately repeal and replace Obamacare' on his first day in office.
Bill said Wednesday that Republicans were responsible for the flaws in Obamacare.
'As time goes on, it's obvious that the adversaries of health care, who didn't want there to be a public option, and have voted 57 times to repeal it, are trying to use a problem that the bill has or a class of people that haven't been helped, and they worked hard to make sure those people didn't get helped.'
Had the law been passed with the provisions the president wanted, 'we wouldn't be dealing with this,' Bill said.
'And that's what Hillary's saying.'
Bill has mentioned the healthcare law at each of his rallies on a bus tour through Ohio this week.
'I want to say this one thing about the healthcare law, because that's another thing that they're trying to tangle with,' he said Tuesday evening in Steubenville, presumably referring to Republicans. 'I supported the Affordable Care Act. I support it today.'
The Affordable Care Act, nicknamed Obamacare, is seen by the president as the biggest single achievement of his presidency, although its financial underpinnings are unraveling
Hillary supports a public option, a government-run health insurance program, just like Obama did. He had to settle for the current law, which expanded healthcare but not enough, according to Bill
In Youngstown, at a pancake breakfast Wednesday morning, he again insisted 'there are problems with it.'
'There are problems with it, and everybody knows it,' he said, reciting for his audience the issues he sees with Obamacare's subsidies and Medicare - not enough people qualify.
The presidential candidate's spouse told reporters Wednesday afternoon that he talks 'about it all the time' and continues to do so because his personal focus group - diners at his local deli - have cited it as a concern.
'By the way none of them want to repeal the health care bill, either,' he said.
Hillary has fallen several points behind Republican Donald Trump in the swing state that historically decides the election and dispatched her husband there this week to re-energize his voters.
The winner of the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections said Wednesday he believes the country is close to a '21st century version of the kind of broadly shared prosperity that we had when I was privileged to be your president.'
'But it is not gonna happen if we vote to continue gridlock and divisive politics, and puttin' each other down and all that kind of stuff, it's not gonna happen.'
The winner of the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections said Wednesday he believes the country is close to a '21st century version of the kind of broadly shared prosperity that we had when I was privileged to be your president.'
Continuing he said, 'One of the things I don't agree with Hillary's opponent on is, you know, everything is just terrible and we're all a bunch of losers.'
The military is full of losers, the generals doesn't know as much about ISIS as Trump does. 'Poor generals.'
'Everybody's a loser? Oh really?' he said at the union event.
America is not 'going to hell in a handbasket,' he charged. It is in its 79th month of job growth. 'We've got the makings here to rise again.'
This upcoming vote is being cast as a 'change election.' Hillary has done a lot of things in her life, 'always to make positive change,' he said.
'Is this a change election? You bet it is. But you better make the right change.'
Clinton said later in the day at Vernon's Cafe, 'I am trying to convince people that we ought to be upbeat about our prospects for the future instead of treating politics like a blood sport.'
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