Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) said Bill Clinton’s remarks criticizing Obamacare as a "crazy system" were "inartful" on Wednesday, but she also praised him for speaking from the heart and "saying it like it is."
Asked by MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts if the comments were a gift for Donald Trump heading into his next debate with Hillary Clinton, Boxer said Bill Clinton was not actually attacking the entire law.
"Maybe he was inartful, I’ll give him that," Boxer said. "I love him because he speaks from the heart. He’s saying it like it is. Of course we have to keep on working to make Obamacare better. Of course we have to fix the problems ... The Republicans don’t want to make Obamacare better, because they want to repeal it and throw 20 million people out of the program. That’s what Donald Trump wants to do, so I’m not defensive about the fact we have to fix it."
Bill Clinton ripped into the health care law on Monday for its effect on middle-class Americans who did not qualify for subsidies, causing a stir given President Obama’s importance as a surrogate for his wife Hillary Clinton’s White House bid.
"So you’ve got 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," Clinton said.
He tried to walk back the remarks later in the week, according to CNN, saying he supported the law but still adding that it hurt many middle-class people.
"But there is a group of people–mostly small business owners and employees–who make just a little too much money to qualify for Medicaid expansion or for the tax incentives who can’t get affordable health insurance premiums in a lot of places. And the reason is they’re not in big pools," Clinton said. "So they have no bargaining power."