Personal Attacks Ramp Up At Rowdy GOP Debate
At the contentious Republican debate on Saturday night, Gov. John Kasich defended his Medicaid expansion. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton says Bernie Sanders' health care plan -- the cost of which left-leaning economists are questioning -- would lead to consumers having to give up their insurance.
The New York Times:
Republican Debate Takeaways: Saturday Night Fighting
The Republican candidates debated on Saturday night as if it were one last chance to break through and take down their opponents — and for a few of them, it probably was. ... [Donald Trump] ridiculed Lindsey Graham, South Carolina’s senior senator, and described Planned Parenthood as a group that provides important health services to women. (He said he disapproved of its role performing abortions.) ... Mr. Kasich continued to call for a lower-key and more genial race, defended his decision to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and said that government has a compassionate role to play in people’s lives, arguing, “Economic growth is not an end unto itself.” (Burns, 2/14)
The Washington Post:
Clinton: Under Sanders, ‘You Would Have To Give Up The Insurance You Have Now’
Hillary Clinton stepped up a criticism of her Democratic presidential opponent, Bernie Sanders, on Sunday night, telling supporters at a rally in the Las Vegas suburbs that the senator from Vermont would replace their insurance plans with something more expensive. "We both share the goal of universal health-care coverage, but he wants to start all over again," Clinton said. "And he wants to have a new system that would be quite challenging because you would have to give up the insurance you have now, and it would cost a lot of money." (Weigel, 2/14)
The New York Times:
Left-Leaning Economists Question Cost Of Bernie Sanders’s Plans
With his expansive plans to increase the size and role of government, Senator Bernie Sanders has provoked a debate not only with his Democratic rival for president, Hillary Clinton, but also with liberal-leaning economists who share his goals but question his numbers and political realism. The reviews of some of these economists, especially on Mr. Sanders’s health care plans, suggest that Mrs. Clinton could have been too conservative in their debate last week when she said his agenda in total would increase the size of the federal government by 40 percent. That level would surpass any government expansion since the buildup in World War II. (Calmes, 2/15)