Fact check: CNN South Carolina debate
•Gingrich, slamming Jimmy Carter , said "unemployment went to 10.8%." It did — nearly two years after Ronald Reagan took office. But it never exceeded 7.8% under Carter.
•Gingrich claimed that "none" of the ideas on the website of his Center for Health Transformation resemble Obama's program. Actually, we found a call there for an individual mandate, which Gingrich himself repeated as recently as last May.
•Romney slammed Gingrich's claim to have "helped" Reagan create jobs, saying Reagan mentioned Gingrich only once in his published diaries. That's true. Reagan wrote that the young congressman's 1983 suggestion to freeze spending "would cripple our defense program," and he rejected it.
•Texas Rep. Ron Paul , a physician, claimed medicine "worked rather well" in the early 1960s. That was before Medicare, when in fact rising health care costs were forcing many of the elderly onto public assistance or charity care.
Analysis
They met in Charleston , only hours after Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced he was suspending his campaign and endorsing Gingrich.
Romney vs. Santorum: Massachusetts health care
Santorum and Romney both strayed from the facts at times as Santorum tried to bolster his claim that Romney's health care law was a "disaster," and Romney fought back saying Santorum's claims were "wrong." We'll take that spirited exchange point by point:
Santorum wrong on "government-run" health care: Santorum called the law "a government-run health care system." That's not true. Like the federal law signed by Obama, the Massachusetts law doesn't create a system in which the government is the insurer, or provider of health care. Instead, both laws mandated that all residents have insurance, expanding business for private carriers. They also offered subsidies to help lower-income residents buy private insurance, and they expanded Medicaid.
Massachusetts Mandatory Health Insurance Official Site - News
Santorum wrong on premium costs: Santorum claimed Massachusetts premiums are the highest in the country, 27% more than average. Neither claim is true. Santorum: Massachusetts has the highest health insurance premiums of any state in the country.
First, state officials and other stakeholders believe that the health reform law adopted in 2006 has contributed greatly to the state's coverage of children. Even though children are not subject to the state's coverage mandate, the state now has a
The law gives municipalities more flexibility to make changes to employee health insurance outside of the collective bargaining process. Murray said the state plans to offer additional opportunities in the future for communities to save money by
He stood by the fact that Massachusetts has the highest health insurance premiums of any state in the country. It is 27 percent more expensive than the average state in the country. Doctors — if you're in the Massachusetts health care system,
(1001/2711) The prohibition on health insurance "rescissions," or cancelling policies when an enrollee files a claim because of an application error. (1001/2712) The requirement that all effective clinical preventive services are covered by insurance
Capital City Free Press: Richard Schwartzman: Be careful what you ...
&Nbsp; Let’s look at the practical first. Universal healthcare will be anything but what its advocates say it will be. The idea is reminiscent of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where, after the animals held their successful revolution for equality and overthrew the farmer, some animals became more equal than others and said they were deserving of special privileges and luxuries. During his first campaign for Congress in 2006, he explained that he became strongly aware of a need for government healthcare while his young daughter was being treated for cancer. She received excellent care and, he said, he couldn’t imagine how other families managed without the ability to pay for such wonderful treatment. For confirmation, I’ll offer my own personal experience with government-provided healthcare. As an eight-year-old, I went to visit relatives in New Orleans. I had a bicycle accident and cut my leg from knee to ankle. My uncle was a commander in the navy and he got me to the emergency room at the naval base, where I received prompt and excellent treatment. All that I was left with was a scar and an entertaining story to tell. Beyond that fact, there is the question of whether government healthcare is even constitutional. Most politicians really don’t care about that. The contemporary proof of that carelessness comes from an exchange between U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-SC, and Judge Andrew Napolitano during the 2009 discussions over Obamacare. How anyone can read Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution and say that the federal government has the power to force such a thing is beyond reason. It goes back to Clyburn’s comments about Congress doing things that have nothing to do with the Constitution, even though the oath of office is to preserve, protect, and defend that document. Getting the government involved in the health of society and its citizens creates a dangerous situation.