Representative Anna Eshoo (D., Calif.) wants Republicans to stop “whining” about the insurance policies canceled due to Obamacare regulations.
“Your plan is whining. Your plan is suing the president and using taxpayer dollars,” Eshoo said to Republicans during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing as lawmakers debated a proposal by Representative Bill Cassidy (R., La.) to allow people to keep purchasing group plans currently available.
“I hope no more Saturday Night Live whining is brought up in legislation because it’s not attractive, it’s not truthful, and it really does not fit with the dignity of the American people,” Eshoo also said, referring to an old SNL sketch.
Eshoo argued that the Obamacare regulations that caused the plans to be canceled improve on the old policies.
“I think that the benefits that come in the package as a result of reforming the health insurance industry, people care about that,” she said.
Representative Cory Gardner (R., Colo.), who is challenging Senator Mark Udall in the 2014 midterms, reminded Eshoo that “335,000 Coloradans had their health insurance plans canceled thanks to Obamacare,” even though President Obama had promised that people could keep their plans if they liked them.
“They’re not whiners,” Gardner said. “They’re not some whiners on Saturday Night Live.”
Cassidy, who is also challenging a vulnerable Democratic senator, Mary Landrieu, accused Eshoo of “smirking in Congress” while calling people who lost their plans whiners.
“I can understand why folks on the other side of the aisle are defensive,” he said. “In 2009 . . . 32 Democrats voted to kill a GOP amendment that explicitly allowed people to keep their current health care plans.”