On Friday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) responded to a question on Republican criticisms of the Affordable Care Act by stating that “If we extended the tax credits, it’s affordable.”
Co-host Joe Mathieu asked, “We’ve only got about a minute left here. A Terminal user just wrote us while we’re talking, ask the Congressman why the ACA failed that they designed. Maybe I can re-frame that a bit. A lot of Republicans come on the air and they say, this thing was never affordable, Obamacare itself has raised premiums. Is this plan broken?”
McGovern answered, “No, look, I think it’s not perfect, but it is better than the alternative, which is no ACA, right? The bottom line is, millions and millions of people now have coverage because of the Affordable Care Act. If we extended the tax credits, it’s affordable.”
He added that there should be a broader look at the health care system, but in the meantime, “let’s extend those tax credits, let’s help people afford their health insurance.” Earlier, he said that Congress should be talking about “extending the ACA tax credits so that people can afford their health insurance.”
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