Joe Biden: My Plan Will Make ‘Health Care More Affordable’

Former Vice President Joe Biden claimed Saturday that his public option healthcare plan will “make health care more affordable” and expand health insurance coverage for millions of Americans that do not have coverage under Obamacare.

Biden’s campaign Twitter account wrote that his healthcare plan “will build” on Obamacare and lower healthcare prices.

“My plan to protect and build on Obamacare will not only provide coverage for uninsured Americans, but it will also make health care more affordable for those who already have coverage,” Biden wrote.

The healthcare plan would create a “public option,” allowing a government health insurance option to compete with private health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges.

Biden’s plan, however, could create new obstacles in lowering healthcare costs as well as expanding healthcare access, as a recent study found that more than half of America’s rural hospitals could pay a heavy cost as the result of Biden’s public option plan.

A study commissioned by the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future and conducted by Navigant Consulting found that “adding a government-run insurance plan could decimate rural hospitals.”

The study found that as many as 55 percent of rural hospitals, or 1,037 hospitals across 46 states, could become at risk of closure from a public option. The closure of those rural hospitals represents more than 63,000 staffed beds and 420,000 employees.

Many Republicans, such as Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), have lambasted the idea of a public option. Scott told Breitbart News in July that a public option plan serves as nothing more than a scheme to enroll every American in a “government” healthcare plan. Scott added that “government insurance products don’t work.”

Biden’s campaign claimed that his healthcare plan will “build on” Obamacare, even though millions of Americans without Obamacare subsidies continue to flee the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released two reports Monday that 2.5 million Americans without Obamacare subsidies left the exchanges, which represents a 40 percent drop.

Administrator Verma said that the current exodus proves that Obamacare’s premiums remain too expensive for millions of Americans.

“As President Trump predicted, people are fleeing the individual market. Obamacare is failing the American people, and the ongoing exodus of the unsubsidized population from the market proves that Obamacare’s sky-high premiums are unaffordable,” said Verma in August.