Huckabee: GOP needs to ‘get over’ opposition to healthcare subsidies

Possible 2016 GOP presidential contender Mike Huckabee on Sunday said the government should subsidize a portion of healthcare for uninsured Americans.

{mosads}The former Arkansas governor laid out his own plan for healthcare on “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace, saying if his party has a problem with subsidizing “people whose medical expenses are extraordinary … they need to get over it.”

Huckabee, weighing a second run for the highest office in the country, said instead of overhauling the entire healthcare system, the government should focus on the 15 percent of Americans who are uninsured, half of which, Huckabee contends, are insurable but choose not to get coverage. 

He said there should be a “safety net” for those uninsurable individuals.

Huckabee highlighted a program that former President Ronald Reagan signed into law in 1982, the Tax Equity Family Relief Act, or TEFRA.

The program operated in Arkansas, Huckabee explained, noting that people who have disabilities or who are uninsurable should not have to be on Medicaid to afford healthcare.

Instead, Huckabee proposed offering them a “reasonable premium, a reasonable deductible and a reasonable co-pay,” after which the government would subsidize the rest of the cost of their healthcare.

“And then the government would, in fact, subsidize those people whose medical expenses are extraordinary. I don’t think most Republicans, most conservatives, would, or should have a problem with that, and if they do, they need to get over it, because it could be them,” the former governor said.