Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has revamped her website's healthcare policy page, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Here are seven things to know about the updates and her healthcare proposals.
1. In her revamp, Ms. Clinton underscores her support for the public option. The public option was initially part of the Affordable Care Act, but never came to fruition. It essentially creates competition for commercial payers with a government-run option. This is something Ms. Clinton supported during her 2008 campaign and has "consistently since then," according to her website. Her "accursed email" also documents her efforts to support the public option, according to the Los Angeles Times.
2. To make this option a reality, Ms. Clinton would take a slightly different tack than was originally taken under the ACA. She would work on a state-by-state basis to establish a public option choice, according to her campaign website. A Politico interpretation of her proposal to empower states says "That may be a reference to a waiver program taking effect in 2017 that lets states assert greater control over their healthcare systems."
3. Though Ms. Clinton has supported the public option in the past, she has hardly referenced it in her current campaign until now. Quartz noted she made mention of it in a January debate, stating "even when the Democrats were in charge of the Congress, we couldn't get the votes for [the public option]," and one of her aides brushed aside a question on the matter on MSNBC.
4. Her proposals also include plans to address high deductibles and co-pays. Ms. Clinton says she would address out-of-pocket expenses by providing families on the exchanges tax credits of up to $5,000. She also vowed to fix the "family glitch," which currently makes some families ineligible for subsidies if one member of the family has employer-based coverage, even if the plan is too expensive to cover the whole family.
5. Ms. Clinton plans to push Medicaid expansion with new incentives. "Hillary will follow President [Barack] Obama's proposal to allow any state that signs up for the Medicaid expansion to receive a 100 percent match for the first 3 years, and she will continue to look for other ways to incentivize states," her website reads.
6. Ms. Clinton wants to expand access to health insurance to families regardless of immigration status. Her campaign says she wants to allow citizen and non-citizen resident families to purchase coverage on the ACA exchanges.
7. She plans to invest $500 million in an "aggressive enrollment campaign." The funds would support navigators, advertising and other outreach activities to make enrollment easier, especially for the 16 million Americans who are eligible for health insurance but not enrolled, according to her campaign website.
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