Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, mulling a run for president as a Republican in 2016, is giving ammo to conservative leaders and congressional candidates to battle Democrats on how health-care premiums have gone up under Obamacare.
Jindal’s memo — the details of which were first reported Tuesday by The Daily Caller — is titled “Over 1.2 Trillion Reasons to Repeal Obamacare.” The memo is being sent out to conservatives on Tuesday by Jindal in his capacity as honorary chairman of the group America Next.
It takes issue with how President Obama Obama, during his first campaign for president in 2008, promised that his health-care plan would reduce premium costs for the average family by $2,500 per year.
“Contrary to candidate Obama’s promise,” Jindal’s memo states, “health insurance premiums have continued to rise every year President Obama has been in office.”
“Compared to a baseline year of 2008 — the year Barack Obama was elected — the average family premium for employer-sponsored coverage rose by more than $2,500 — $3,671, to be precise.”
Jindal’s study argues that Americans have faced a cumulative $6,388 per individual, and $18,610 per family, in higher premium costs.
“Individually, ever-rising insurance premiums place a tremendous squeeze on a hollowed-out American middle class — but collectively, these costs amount to a massive weight on an American economy struggling to grow,” the memo states. “All told, the American people have faced $1.2 trillion in higher health insurance premiums due to Obamacare’s failure to deliver.”
Jindal’s memo, which conservatives can use on the campaign trail this year, comes as he attempts to establish himself as an intellectual leader of the GOP.
In April, Jindal unveiled a health-care proposal — “The Freedom and Empowerment Plan: the Prescription for Conservative Consumer-Focused Health Reform.”
The governor said his plan repeals Obamacare while offering new proposals to lower health costs, guaranteeing access to people with pre-existing conditions and increasing health-care choices for consumers.
Read the full memo:
