Fact Check: Palin Lies About Obama's Healthcare Plan

Artwork by Max Estes (Estes' illustration blog: My Life as a Bunny)

CNN: The Facts: Obama's health care plan, as described on his campaign Web site, does include a government mandate that all children be covered by health insurance. Beyond that, while the plan is "universal" in the sense that it aims to make health care coverage available to every American, it is not "universal" in the sense that a government mandate would require coverage for every adult. On Saturday, October 4 at a rally in Newport News, Virginia, Obama said his goal is to provide "affordable, accessible health care for every single American."

The Obama plan would increase the federal government's role in health care by requiring insurance companies to cover pre-existing or chronic conditions and requiring all employers other than very small businesses to offer coverage to their employees or pay part of the costs to cover them. But it would also include existing private insurance options, would use existing providers and plans and would allow people to choose their own doctors and methods of insurance. According to Obama's Web site, people who are pleased with their current health care coverage and happy with their current doctor will not have to change anything. Employers that cannot afford health care for their employees would be eligible for subsidies.

The plan does propose creating a National Health Insurance Exchange. While it is not clear exactly how the exchange would operate and who would oversee it, according to Obama's Web site people could use the exchange to choose a private plan or a new public plan similar to that offered to federal employees and members of Congress.

The Verdict: Mostly False. Obama's plan would increase government's role in health care, and mandate coverage for children, but would include existing health care systems and not mandate universal coverage. There is no evidence in the plan to support Palin's claim that health care would be "taken over by the feds."

Palin Goes Back Inside Bubble

poster by Sam Brown

The audacity of Bubble Girl is hard to believe. Her recent doozy: Obama is palling around with terrorists.
When you don't have the goods, you should keep your mouth shut. But she obviously believes in herself a little too much and doesn't know any better. She makes up for her incompetence by babbling, a sleight of hand trick. McCain's entire campaign has been a trick -- distract to try and create an illusion of caring about the poor and middle class. Sorry Palin. You don't even come close to being worthy to serve as vice president. Why is it the people who claim to be Christian are the ones with the worst behavior? But she's gotta do what she's gotta do because she's being egged on by the conservative base, who simply hate Obama for irrational reasons. Someone put those words about Obama palling around with terrorists in Palin's mouth. Don't expect her to be "speaking" her own words any time soon. She'll be given her lines. Her mission now is to shore up the racist vote. 

CNN Fact Check: Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt told CNN that after meeting Obama through the Annenberg project, Ayers hosted a campaign event for him that same year when then-Illinois state Sen. Alice Palmer, who planned to run for Congress, introduced the young community organizer as her chosen successor. LaBolt also said the two have not spoken by phone or exchanged e-mail messages since Obama came to the U.S. Senate in 2005 and last met more than a year ago when they encountered each other on the street in their Hyde Park neighborhood.

The extent of Obama's relationship with Ayers came up during the Democratic presidential primaries earlier this year, and Obama explained it by saying, "This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood … the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago — when I was 8 years old — somehow reflects on me and my values doesn't make much sense."

The New York Times article cited by Palin concluded that "the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers." Other publications, including the Washington Post, Time magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times, The New Yorker and The New Republic, have said that their reporting doesn't support the idea that Obama and Ayers had a close relationship.

The McCain campaign did not respond Saturday to a request for elaboration on Palin's use of the plural "terrorists."

Verdict: False. There is no indication that Ayers and Obama are now "palling around," or that they have had an ongoing relationship in the past three years. Also, there is nothing to suggest that Ayers is now involved in terrorist activity or that other Obama associates are.