Ben Carson Talks Obamacare Replacement, Prosecuting Hillary Clinton
Ben Carson may follow Donald Trump to the White House. Trump even suggested during a recent speech in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, that he hopes Carson will be “very much involved” in his administration in the coming years. Politico also seems to think that newly-elected Donald Trump will appoint Ben Carson as the Health and Human Services Secretary. After Trump acknowledged Carson in his victory speech in New York early Wednesday, Carson is now talking about how he would help Trump replace Obamacare, as well as Trump’s promise to prosecute Hillary Clinton.
“Another great man who has been really a friend to me. But I’ll tell you, I got to know him as a competitor because he was one of the folks that was negotiating to go against those Democrats: Dr. Ben Carson. Where is Ben?”
Dr. Ben Carson, a successful neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital for nearly 30 years, ran against fellow Republican Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign, until he withdrew from the race in March, saying that he did “not see a political path forward.” However, following Trump’s presidential win on Tuesday, Ben Carson might find a place in Washington, D.C., after all, as part of Trump’s Cabinet. The Washington Post recently questioned whether or not Carson would become the next Secretary of Education, while other media outlets think Trump will appoint Carson as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Rudy Giuliani as attorney general? Newt Gingrich as secretary of State? Ben Carson as surgeon general? https://t.co/y1DfLLulwo
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) November 10, 2016
Whatever the case, Donald Trump has said that Ben Carson will be involved in his administration, and Ben Carson has said that he will, “of course,” help Donald Trump repeal and replace Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act, put into place by President Barack Obama in 2010. The ACA was supposed to increase the coverage of health insurance in the U.S. by making it more accessible and affordable, but according to a new report by Time, the ACA is actually getting a “lot less affordable for many Americans.” Remaining insurers in the Obamacare marketplaces are asking for “steep price increases” in several states in 2017.
Donald Trump has continuously blasted the ACA throughout his presidential campaign, and has vowed to “immediately repeal and replace Obamacare” if elected, saying that Obamacare has “failed on cost and quality.” Ben Carson agrees that something needs to be done with Obamacare, but says that before it’s repealed, it needs to be replaced. The Daily Caller quotes Carson as saying that a replacement must obviously come first, and that it “must be something that is very appealing and easy to understand.”
“Then, and only then, would you dismantle what’s in place.”
Politico reports that it’s certain that Ben Carson will have a role in crafting a replacement for Obamacare, but Carson himself doesn’t even know yet what his role will be in the incoming Trump administration. Other reports suggest that Donald Trump will more than likely appoint everyone to his cabinet that he praised in his victory speech. BBC calls them Trump’s “cabinet-in-waiting,” and Ben Carson has received the most attention, so far, as becoming the new Health and Human Services Secretary.
Ben Carson has declined to comment on whether or not he thinks he’s even in line for a role in Trump’s Cabinet, and he’s also declined to comment on what a replacement for Obamacare might look like, but Donald Trump campaigned on replacing Obamacare with something that’s “simpler” and “cheaper,” with “less government regulation.” Breitbart says that since Republicans now hold a majority in both the House and the Senate that President Trump will have the “best chance” of replacing Obamacare.
Carson: I’ll help Trump with Obamacare replacement plan https://t.co/y2uigI6ObG
— AZ Republican Women (@AzFRW) November 10, 2016
But the Los Angeles Times seems to think differently, saying that Trump sometimes doesn’t even agree with Republicans. Plus, Gallup polls from this year show that Americans actually want to keep a federally-funded healthcare system. The Washington Post reported in May that Americans do want to replace Obamacare, but with a single-payer system. Over half of the American population wants to repeal and replace Obamacare with a single-payer healthcare system — including 41 percent of Republicans.
Americans apparently say they’d be happier with something like what Bernie Sanders had proposed. And, according to recent polls, Americans would also be happy to see Hillary Clinton go to jail for using a private email server. Donald Trump even suggested that Clinton “has to go to jail” over the email server scandal, as reported by CNN, but Ben Carson says that prosecuting Hillary Clinton will not be high on Donald Trump’s “initial list of priorities,” and that it shouldn’t be.
[Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
