Comedian Chelsea Handler and conservative commentator Tomi Lahren faced off over the Affordable Care Act Saturday, just two days after Senate Republicans failed to repeal the heath care law, also known as Obamacare.
“I believe it’s my right to purchase health care, I don’t believe it’s my right to pay for it for other people,” Lahren told Handler. “We need to find alternatives — what we have now is not working. What we had before Obamacare wasn’t working.”
Lahren repeatedly argued against the law, which President Obama signed in 2010. But she did say at one point that she was still on her parents’ insurance plan because of it.
“Do you have a health care plan or no?” Handler asked Lahren.
“Well luckily, I’m 24, so I am still on my parents’ [plan]” Lahren replied.
The audience immediately began laughing and cheering, but Handler shushed them. “Stop, stop, stop, she’s being honest,” she said.
A key provision of Obamacare allows dependents to remain on their parents’ plans until they reach 26 years old. Before the law was passed, the cutoff age was 19, or 22 for full-time students.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Lahren said. “To say there are things from Obamacare that are not positive, that’s not true.”
The pair were discussing the policy at Politicon, a convention in Pasadena, California that deemed itself the “the quintessential non-partisan event of the year” and brings together figures from the political and entertainment worlds.
Handler, a comedian and author who supported Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election and has criticized President Trump, interviewed Lahren, a conservative pundit who formerly hosted a show on Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze network. Lahren’s show was ended amidst controversy after she said on The View that she is pro-choice. Lahren recently settled a lawsuit with TheBlaze and announced she is joining a pro-Trump super PAC called the Great America Alliance.
