ELDERLY SOCIALIST CANDIDATE CONFUSED BY HOW GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION HARMS SMALL BUSINESS:

Hillary Clinton was stunned Monday when a small business owner told her that the cost of her health insurance had increased nearly two fold.

“A $400 increase, assuming you didn’t have some terrible healthcare event, which it doesn’t sound like you did,” Clinton said at a campaign event in Virginia. “I don’t understand.”

The voter told Clinton that her health insurance plan had a rigid income cut-off that was preventing her from qualifying for subsidies.

“I have seen our health insurance for my own family go up $500 a month in the last two years,” the voter said. “We went from $400-something to $900-something … we’re just fighting to keep benefits for ourselves.”

The woman said that she was also finding it difficult to provide benefits for her employees.

“The thought of being able to provide benefits to your employees is almost secondary. Yet, to keep your employees happy, that’s a question that comes across my desk all the time,” she said.

Clinton offered numerous solutions but avoided addressing the source of the problem.

“What you’re saying is one of the real worries that we’re facing with the cost of health insurance because the costs are going up in a lot of markets. Not all, but many markets,” Clinton said. “I think that the Affordable Care Act is a big step forward for the vast majority of Americans, but we have to look at out of pocket costs, copays, deductibles, premiums.”

Clinton said that income cut-offs should be relaxed and that health insurance companies should be forced to explain why they are raising prices.

But she was still dumbfounded by the price hike.

“What could have possibly raised your costs $400?” Clinton said. “We’ve gotta pick that apart and really make sure we understand it.”

Any decade now she’ll figure it out — or not. As Hillary sniffed in 1993 when told that HillaryCare could bankrupt small businesses,  “I can’t be responsible for every undercapitalized small business in America.”