August 9, 2009
POLITIFACT in regards to barry’s ever-changing healthcare position: “Obama statements on single-payer have changed a bit” and they labeled it a “Half Flip”.
On July 1, 2009 this is how Politifact described barry’s position:
He’s advocating the same principles he supported during the campaign: Keeping employer-provided insurance in place, making it easier for people to shop for private insurance through a regulated exchange, expanding programs to help low-income people, and requiring large employers to offer insurance or contribute to a health care fund.
barry as staunch advocate for single-payer healthcare.
June 2003
“AFL-CIO Civil, Human and Women’s Rights Conference“
BARRY: How do we get the federal government to do its business?
I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal health care program.
I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its gross national product on health care, cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody.
And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out.
A single-payer health care plan, a universal health care plan.
That’s what I’d like to see.
But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we’ve got to take back the White House, we’ve got to take back the Senate, and we’ve got to take back the House.
February 2004
Obama says he supports the idea of universal health care but does not think a single-payer government system is feasible. He says the
government should be the health care provider of last resort for the uninsured.
April 2007
Obama has pledged that, if elected, all Americans would have health-care coverage by the end of his first term. He has said he is
reluctant to switch to a ‘single-payer’ national health insurance system
because of the difficulty in making a quick transition from the employer-based private system.
August 18, 2008
Campaigning in New Mexico
gkhn776444
Q: Why not go to a single-payer?
BARRY: Well, I’ve said this before – If I was starting from scratch then
I’d probably set up a single-payer system.
July 2009
For us to
transition completely from an employer-based system of private insurance to a single-payer system could be hugely disruptive,
and my attitude has been that we should be able to find a way to create a uniquely American solution to this problem that controls costs but preserves the innovation that is introduced in part with a free-market system.
And that is?
Politifact’s scientific conclusion:
So what we see here is a candidate who in 2003 was trying to appeal to a liberal electorate and today has moderated his comments to appeal to a broader national audience. That’s a Half Flip in our view.
Even with video/audio evidence they can’t bring themselves to call him a liar. How they won their Pulitzer — for hard-hitting factchecking.
