Hillary Clinton on Obamacare: 'Heck of a Lot Better Than Starting From Scratch'

— -- A day after Bill Clinton said Obamacare was "the craziest thing in the world," Hillary Clinton showed support for President Obama's signature health care initiative, saying, "It's a heck of a lot better than starting from scratch."

"I am committed to making sure that people retain coverage that they can afford," Clinton told reporters at a stop in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. "And that is going to require taking on premium costs and deductible costs and prescription drug costs."

The Democratic nominee added that the challenge is "to try to make sure that this important step towards providing insurance for every American is fixed and not repealed, which is the Republican position."

Clinton then turned a question about what her husband had said into an attack on her Republican rival, Donald Trump.

She said Trump would do away with the Affordable Care Act, ending the requirements put on insurance companies under the law.

"One of the strangest things he has said -- and there is a long litany of those, but one of them -- is how he wants to let insurance companies sell across state lines," Clinton said.

"Hey, I don't care if China sells us our insurance policies," Clinton said in an apparent imitation of her opponent. She then added: "Imagine getting approval for your drug by calling Beijing. There is so much [Trump] doesn't either understand or care about."

Bill Clinton on Monday in Flint, Michigan, while campaigning for his wife, said Obamacare has caused premiums for middle-class Americans to rise, specifically those who don't receive subsidies under the law.

"You've got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care, and then the people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It's the craziest thing in the world," said the former president.

The next day, Bill Clinton sought to clarify his remarks by saying Obamacare has done "a world of good" and echoing his wife that it would be a "terrible mistake" if the law were repealed.

Hillary Clinton will watch Tuesday's vice presidential debate from her home in Chappaqua, New York, and told her press corps that she is "very confident and excited about Tim Kaine."

She added that she's proud of how the Virginia senator has prepared for the debate. Clinton said that right after the first presidential debate Kaine emailed her an assessment of her performance that she "found right on the mark and helpful."

When asked about the task that the Republican vice presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, has at the debate, Clinton said, "He has a huge burden defending both his own record and the record of Donald Trump. And we'll see how well he can do that."