Dick Cheney: 'I'm Inclined To Agree With Bill Clinton' On Health Care Plans

Cheney: 'I'm Inclined To Agree With Bill Clinton' On Health Care

Former vice president Dick Cheney (R) said Tuesday that he is "inclined to agree with" former President Bill Clinton on changing the Affordable Care Act to allow individuals to keep their health care plans if they prefer to do so.

During an interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, Cheney said he wasn't sure how the Obama Administration could find a way to accomplish this, since many insurance policies have been canceled since the law went into effect.

“I’m inclined to agree with Bill Clinton, that that’s something that ought to be attempted, but given the complexity of the system, you’ve already got people now who have lost their policies, who can’t get new ones," Cheney said. "These policies have been declared by law to be inadequate because of the standards that are written into the federal regulations. I'm not quite sure how now you go peel back that onion."

He continued, "I think exactly what needs to be done is to repeal Obamacare... I think it’s a serious, serious foul-up. Major, major problem in terms of the government trying to do more than it’s capable of doing."

Earlier Tuesday, Clinton told OZY TV that while he believes Americans are better off under the Affordable Care Act, individuals should be allowed to stay on plans they had prior to the law's implementation.

"I personally believe, even if it takes changing the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they go," he said.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney later responded to Clinton's criticism during a briefing.

"The president has tasked his team with looking at a range of options, as he said, to make sure that nobody is put in a position where their plans have been canceled and they can’t afford a better plan, even though they’d like to have a better plan," Carney said.

Carney, however, stopped short of endorsing the "Keep Your Plan" bills introduced in the Senate and House by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), respectively.

"Broadly speaking, we do not see that as fixing the problem, we see that as throwing the baby out with the bath water," Carney said.

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