Fox News host Tucker Carlson tried for nearly 10 minutes Wednesday night on his show Tucker Carlson Tonight to get Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) to admit that ObamaCare really isn't that great. Though Himes conceded that the public "has never fully embraced" President Obama's signature health care plan, the Democratic congressman adamantly defended the elements of it that have been successful — like the increase in coverage rates and the fact that kids can now stay on their parents' plan until they're 26 years old. "If you list the five or six things that are core to ObamaCare, people love it," Himes said. "The problem is, of course, for seven years they've been told it's evil."
But Carlson wasn't about to believe that "people don't love it because they've been lied to" by Republicans. "You're saying that the public loves ObamaCare, but you're also conceding that they don't actually love ObamaCare because it's never really gotten above 50 percent [approval]. A law that has transformed the life of every person in the country that does not have majority support nationally, that itself is a failure, isn't it?" Carlson said. Himes pointed out some states that haven't expanded Medicaid, which means some people have yet to reap the health care plan's benefits, and that public perception — especially around something as "complicated" as health care — will naturally fluctuate.
Neither ends up budging, with the conversation eventually veering into whether Carlson's 22-year-old son should really have to pay for maternity care. Watch the argument unfold below. Becca Stanek
The Week
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