Sarah Palin Launches Site Targeting Democrats Who Backed "Obamacare"
Just as the first benefits from President Obama's health care reforms kick in, former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is renewing her effort to use votes for "Obamacare" against vulnerable Democrats in the midterm elections.
Palin today launched the website www.takebackthe20.com, which focuses on the 20 congressional districts that have two things in common: Palin and her running mate John McCain carried them in 2008, and they are or were represented by members of Congress who voted in favor of health care reform. The new website provides information about the candidates in those districts that Palin says are "committed to repealing and replacing Obamacare."
"It allows you to read up on them, and then support them in their race to defeat those who gave us this terrible bill," Palin wrote in a Facebook note today. "Candidates who don't support 'repeal and replace' don't deserve your support."
A number of Republicans have advocated "repealing and replacing" the president's health care reforms, even though it would be essentially impossible as long as President Obama is in office and wielding a veto pen. Republicans could, however, potentially block funding for the reforms if they were to retake Congress this November.
Palin writes that Republicans can replace "Obamacare" with "pro-private sector, patient-oriented reform that the GOP has proposed."
CBSNews.com Special Report: Campaign 2010
The former Alaska governor gives a lengthy critique of the problems with Mr. Obama's health care overhaul, but some of her arguments are faulty.
For instance, Palin writes, "Remember when the president said, 'If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor'? Not true. In Texas alone a record number of doctors are leaving the Medicare system because of the cuts in reimbursements forced on them by Obamacare!"
In fact, "Obamacare" did not force cuts in reimbursements. The Medicare reimbursement rate is an issue Congress has struggled with for years, and Congress this summer actually approved an increase in pay for doctors in the Medicare program, which lasts through this December.
Palin also defends her claim that the health care reforms set up "death panels" -- "the government's power to say no to your request for treatment of the people you love."
She links to a video of former Director of Office and Management of Budget Peter Orszag explaining how the Medicare Payment Advisory Board works -- which Palin suggests is the "death panel." As Orszag explains in the video, the board simply advises changes to the Medicare payment system to make Medicare more efficient. Congress and the President have the power to enact laws to repeal their changes.
