WASHINGTON -- CNN gave some conservatives a start on Thursday after it reported that former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, who is currently surging in 2016 presidential polls, supported a health insurance mandate as recently as 2013.
Fiorina's campaign pushed back on the report by explaining that Fiorina actually supports requiring high-deductible "catastrophic care" insurance plans, a proposal more in line with a health care plan authored by the conservative Heritage Foundation. Her spokeswoman further clarified that Fiorina opposed the Obamacare mandate.
Perhaps even more awkward for Fiorina, however, is her involvement with a California-based nonprofit organization that promoted enrollment in Obamacare's health exchanges.
In her 2013 CNN appearance, Fiorina touted the Foundation for Health Coverage Education, which assists Americans with identifying health coverage options through simplified eligibility information. Upon joining the group's advisory board in June 2011, Fiorina said she was "proud of my association with FHCE and hope to highlight the service they provide through the power of technology and bringing information to one source."
While Fiorina opposes Obamacare, and would even go so far as to unilaterally change the rules in the Senate in order to repeal it, the nonprofit she advises would like more people to sign up for its health exchanges.
In multiple Facebook posts ahead of the first Obamacare enrollment deadline in December 2013, FHCE informed its followers on how best to sign up for coverage through Healthcare.gov. The following April, it touted the number of Americans who had signed up for Obamacare -- 7 million. Later that year, as the second deadline for enrollment neared, the nonprofit again told people to "check in with #HealthCare.gov for changes, dates and advice for enrollment!”