Amazing!
Train Wreck: Watch Sarah Palin Embarrassingly Try to Explain Her Alternative to “Obamacare”
November 11, 2013 By
I know, I know — many of you hate when I write about Sarah Palin. I argue that her being one of the first people that comes to mind when you think of Republicans (more specifically tea party Republicans) is a great thing for liberals. Who better to make the entire Republican party look like complete idiots than Sarah Palin?
Well, in a bizarre interview you really need to see to believe, Matt Lauer asked Sarah Palin what her alternative to “Obamacare” would be. Her answer is pure gold. It took me back to 2008 when Katie Couric asked her which specific newspapers she read and Palin rambled on for quite a while, unable to name a single newspaper.
Palin said:
“The plan is to allow those things that had been proposed over many years to reform a health-care system in America that certainly does need more help so that there’s more competition, there’s less tort reform threat, there’s less trajectory of the cost increases, and those plans have been proposed over and over again.”Yes, that was really her answer when asked about what alternative her and her fellow Republicans might have to “Obamacare.”
This is a woman who tries to present herself as some kind of an “expert” about the Affordable Care Act, and even in her embarrassing attempt to describe an alternative, she seems unable to cite a single specific part of the healthcare law that she would change.
Oh, but after she babbled on about what her “alternative” would be, she had an answer for what’s preventing those “plans”:
And what thwarts those plans? It’s the far left. It’s President Obama and his supporters who will not allow the Republicans to usher in free market, patient-centered, doctor-patient relationship links to reform health care.”Interesting. Isn’t what we had before exactly what she just described? A health care system that allowed for discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions, continued rake hikes and a system that wasn’t “patient-centered” but industry-centered. As in, a system built to benefit the profit margins of the health insurance companies and their affiliates.
And didn’t Republicans have a president in the White House for 8 years, and have control of part (if not all) of Congress for most of that time? If they actually had a plan to fix our very flawed health care system, why didn’t they follow through with it then?
Oh, I’m sure they’ll blame that on Democrats too, right? It’s amazing how powerful Republicans make Democrats and President Obama out to be. When Democrats have power, they’re the cause for everything that’s wrong. When they don’t have power, they’re the cause preventing Republicans from doing anything.
The GOP continues to prove themselves to be the party with no ideas but plenty of excuses.
Here’s the full interview with Palin from the Today Show:
As Republicans will undoubtedly be bashing the health care law quite a lot today, be sure to show them these facts debunking 5 of their biggest lies about the law.
Exposing and Debunking 5 of the Biggest Republican Lies About “Obamacare”
There’s a lot of propaganda that comes from the right as it relates to the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”), and even I admit that at times it’s tough to know every rule that the law carries with it.
However, the blatant lies coming from Republicans since the law’s inception have been seemingly endless. So I decided a few of them needed to be debunked.
Granted, the following aren’t the worst lies — they’re just the lies I see most often from right-wing trolls on my pages Right Off A Cliff and Forward Progressives, as well as my conservative friends and family who get most of their “information” from Fox News.
So in no particular order, let’s go ahead and debunk 5 of the biggest Republican lies about Obamacare.
1) Death Panels: Who actually believes that there will be some committee of government officials sitting at a desk determining whether or not someone lives or dies? How is it that people are this stupid? You would think that this myth would have faded long ago, but sadly I still see it pop up far too often. For the record, Obamacare is not a government takeover of health care. Which leads me to…
2) Obamacare is socialized health care: Obamacare is not socialized health care. That would be a single-payer system which Republicans simply refused to support in any way. What Obamacare equates to is insurance reform. It requires that every American obtain health insurance (you know, the whole “personal responsibility thing”) and those who can’t afford it will be given subsidies (tax breaks) in order to help them afford coverage. Those who can afford insurance, but don’t make that much, will be given tax breaks as well based on their income. It’s still largely private insurance companies providing health insurance to Americans. Not a government takeover of health care.
3) The mandate is unconstitutional: Actually, according to our Supreme Court it is constitutional. In fact, the mandate is vital for any kind of insurance reform to work. Think of it like car insurance. People can’t pick and choose when they want car insurance. If they want to drive, they have to have insurance. Well, we can’t pick when we’ll get sick and need medical attention. So health insurance is a little different. If we require that all Americans be given access to treatment (the pre-existing conditions part) then it’s vital that we require all Americans to obtain health insurance. Otherwise people would only purchase insurance when they got sick, use it, and then drop it as soon as they’re well. This behavior would be catastrophic for everyone who continually kept health insurance. The whole point of insurance in the first place is to lower individual out of pocket costs by essentially paying into a pool of money. If we allow people to pick and choose when they want coverage, and allow them to drop it whenever they don’t need it, then that would skyrocket the cost of health premiums even more. While it never sounds good to say “the government mandates…” when it comes to pretty much anything, the fact of the matter is it’s vital for Obamacare (or any health insurance reform) to work. Otherwise, everyone who pays responsibly would then be paying the price.
4) Obamacare is a radical leftist idea: Actually, that’s false. An individual mandate was originally a Republican idea in the 1990′s, as a counter to the push during the Clinton administration for true universal health care. They proposed essentially what Obamacare is—health insurance reform. It’s also a law that was passed in Massachusetts by then governor, and former GOP presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. In fact, Obamacare so closely resembles Romney’s health care plan that Republican opponents to Romney during the primaries referred to his health care law as “Romneycare.”
5) Obamacare is so bad, Obama gave Congress an exemption from it: Again, that’s false. This has been a talking point Ted Cruz has often used–and it’s simply not true. It’s also a lie that Politifact rated 100 percent “false.” In fact, there was an amendment added to the law (by a Republican) before the bill became law that specifically prohibits members of Congress from being exempt from the law.
So there you have it, 5 of the biggest Republican lies about Obamacare exposed. Sadly, I don’t expect many conservatives to change their opinion about the law just from pointing these out. Facts rarely make an impact.
But still, I would encourage everyone who reads this to share it often, especially with conservatives. Because if nothing else, it’s always funny to confront Republicans with a few facts and watch them try to dispute them with their spoon-fed right-wing talking points that often just don’t make any sense.
http://www.forwardprogressives.com/exposing-and-debunking-5-of-the-biggest-republican-lies-about-obamacare/
However, the blatant lies coming from Republicans since the law’s inception have been seemingly endless. So I decided a few of them needed to be debunked.
Granted, the following aren’t the worst lies — they’re just the lies I see most often from right-wing trolls on my pages Right Off A Cliff and Forward Progressives, as well as my conservative friends and family who get most of their “information” from Fox News.
So in no particular order, let’s go ahead and debunk 5 of the biggest Republican lies about Obamacare.
1) Death Panels: Who actually believes that there will be some committee of government officials sitting at a desk determining whether or not someone lives or dies? How is it that people are this stupid? You would think that this myth would have faded long ago, but sadly I still see it pop up far too often. For the record, Obamacare is not a government takeover of health care. Which leads me to…
2) Obamacare is socialized health care: Obamacare is not socialized health care. That would be a single-payer system which Republicans simply refused to support in any way. What Obamacare equates to is insurance reform. It requires that every American obtain health insurance (you know, the whole “personal responsibility thing”) and those who can’t afford it will be given subsidies (tax breaks) in order to help them afford coverage. Those who can afford insurance, but don’t make that much, will be given tax breaks as well based on their income. It’s still largely private insurance companies providing health insurance to Americans. Not a government takeover of health care.
3) The mandate is unconstitutional: Actually, according to our Supreme Court it is constitutional. In fact, the mandate is vital for any kind of insurance reform to work. Think of it like car insurance. People can’t pick and choose when they want car insurance. If they want to drive, they have to have insurance. Well, we can’t pick when we’ll get sick and need medical attention. So health insurance is a little different. If we require that all Americans be given access to treatment (the pre-existing conditions part) then it’s vital that we require all Americans to obtain health insurance. Otherwise people would only purchase insurance when they got sick, use it, and then drop it as soon as they’re well. This behavior would be catastrophic for everyone who continually kept health insurance. The whole point of insurance in the first place is to lower individual out of pocket costs by essentially paying into a pool of money. If we allow people to pick and choose when they want coverage, and allow them to drop it whenever they don’t need it, then that would skyrocket the cost of health premiums even more. While it never sounds good to say “the government mandates…” when it comes to pretty much anything, the fact of the matter is it’s vital for Obamacare (or any health insurance reform) to work. Otherwise, everyone who pays responsibly would then be paying the price.
4) Obamacare is a radical leftist idea: Actually, that’s false. An individual mandate was originally a Republican idea in the 1990′s, as a counter to the push during the Clinton administration for true universal health care. They proposed essentially what Obamacare is—health insurance reform. It’s also a law that was passed in Massachusetts by then governor, and former GOP presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. In fact, Obamacare so closely resembles Romney’s health care plan that Republican opponents to Romney during the primaries referred to his health care law as “Romneycare.”
5) Obamacare is so bad, Obama gave Congress an exemption from it: Again, that’s false. This has been a talking point Ted Cruz has often used–and it’s simply not true. It’s also a lie that Politifact rated 100 percent “false.” In fact, there was an amendment added to the law (by a Republican) before the bill became law that specifically prohibits members of Congress from being exempt from the law.
So there you have it, 5 of the biggest Republican lies about Obamacare exposed. Sadly, I don’t expect many conservatives to change their opinion about the law just from pointing these out. Facts rarely make an impact.
But still, I would encourage everyone who reads this to share it often, especially with conservatives. Because if nothing else, it’s always funny to confront Republicans with a few facts and watch them try to dispute them with their spoon-fed right-wing talking points that often just don’t make any sense.
http://www.forwardprogressives.com/exposing-and-debunking-5-of-the-biggest-republican-lies-about-obamacare/
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