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Alison Grimes on Health Care |
She warned that McConnell would take away coverage from half a million people who can now get prescriptions and visit doctor.
Interestingly, while "ObamaCare" is unpopular, the state's health expansion, called "Kynect," actually is. McConnell has gotten himself in hot water before by trying to draw a distinction between the federal law and the state program. While he criticized Medicaid expansion, he responded when asked if he would do away with Kynect: "It's a state decision. That's fine. I think it's fine to have a website. Yeah."
Grimes' campaign spent the week ripping McConnell for his part in the shutdown. Neither she nor her campaign had anything to say publicly about the launch of Kentucky's health insurance exchange.
If Grimes embraced the law, McConnell's campaign would be thrilled, seeing much-needed ammunition with which to tie Grimes to Obama and Washington Democrats. But to abandon ObamaCare would likely cause Grimes serious trouble with her Democratic base.
Grimes's campaign disputed that Grimes has in any way shrunk from the issue, stating: "Alison has heard from Kentucky businesses and families who are afraid their rates are going up. She is concerned with some aspects of health reform, specifically the regulatory burden placed on small businesses, and believes Congress must come together to provide businesses additional tax relief."
Her suggestion: delay the imposition of the coverage mandate on small business, as the president already has done for larger corporations. "The mandate will not work for many small businesses in Kentucky," she said, "so I believe that a delay is the right course so that changes can be made."
She also blasted McConnell for wanting to abandon the law altogether, pointing out that the state's health ratings are among the worst in the nation, and that other provisions in the law will extend coverage to an estimated 600,000 more Kentuckians. "Unlike Sen. McConnell, I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water," she said.