During an interview with Senator Marco Rubio on Tuesday, PBS host Charlie Rose urged the Florida Republican to say something positive about ObamaCare: "What's the best thing you can say about the Affordable Care Act?" Rubio replied: "That it's forced us to have a debate about health insurance in America." Rose fretted: "That's it?"
Rose tried to push supportive spin on the unpopular policy: "In terms of accessibility, in terms of – it has not been as – I mean, the projected costs have not been as bad as they assumed." Rubio countered: "They've not been as good as they proclaimed either."
Rose pressed: "Yeah, but have been less than was assumed." Rubio explained:
But the costs really are bearing out on the consumer side as well. Because for example, people thought, "Okay, now I'm going to have this free health insurance, and by the way, I'm going to get a subsidy for it." And then they realized that before they can even begin to use that insurance, they've got to come with $4,000 as part of their deductible. So they're really not insured.
Rose and Rubio also had a contentious exchange on Monday's CBS This Morning, when Rose tried to argue that President Obama reopening diplomatic relations with Cuba would bring about political reform in the totalitarian regime.
Here is a transcript of the exchange on the January 14 edition of Rose's PBS program:
11:13 PM ET
(...)
CHARLIE ROSE: What's the best thing you can say about the Affordable Care Act?
MARCO RUBIO: That it's forced us to have a debate about health insurance in America.
ROSE: That's it?
RUBIO: Yeah, absolutely.
ROSE: In terms of accessibility, in terms of – it has not been as – I mean, the projected costs have not been as bad as they assumed.
RUBIO: They've not been as good as they proclaimed either.
ROSE: Yeah, but have been less than was assumed.
RUBIO: But the costs really are bearing out on the consumer side as well. Because for example, people thought, "Okay, now I'm going to have this free health insurance, and by the way, I'm going to get a subsidy for it." And then they realized that before they can even begin to use that insurance, they've got to come with $4,000 as part of their deductible. So they're really not insured.
(...)
