Sarah Palin today claimed she would rather go to Canada for her health care needs than remain in the United States as long as Obamacare is in effect.
The former governor of Alaska ripped into the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, during a GOPAC fundraiser in Columbus, Ohio, in which she attempted to point out the new law's multiple flaws.
"Since President Obama forced this so-called Obamacare on all Americans, we are seeing costs go up and people lose their health insurance," the Tea Party darling told hundreds of supporters. "Right now I am scared to enter a hospital because I don't know how much it will cost me, if my health insurance will cover me or if I will even receive quality care. Let me tell you folks, this never happened before Obamacare took effect.
"I love America but as long as Obamacare is the law, every time I need to visit the doctor or buy medicine, I'm just gonna head across the Alaska border to Canada. At least Canada has the kind of efficient, cost-effective health care that conservatives can support."
Going Canuck
Canada's health care system, which is comparable to the popular U.S. program Medicare, provides publicly funded health insurance to all citizens and is administered by the provinces, with guidelines set by the federal government. Unlike the Affordable Care Act, Canada's system cut out the private health insurance companies instead of requiring U.S. citizens to buy from them.
Palin previously claimed Obamacare's failings are meant to build support for single-payer health care, although she has struggled to explain her alternate proposal.
However, Palin's unwitting endorsement of Canada's government-run health care system -- which is often dismissed by U.S. conservatives as "socialist" -- did not seem to faze the crowd as she continued to favorably contrast it to the United States.
"I can't tell you how many of my Canadian friends say how much they like their health care," she said. "As Americans, we should be embarrassed that Canadians have a higher life expectancy and a lower infant mortality rate than we do. On top of that, I'm told Canadians spend less money than we do.
"Why is that? Maybe it's because the president of Canada, Stephen Harper, is a conservative who doesn't like to waste the people's money, so he demands an efficient health care system."
Palin also blasted Republicans and the Supreme Court for "standing by and doing absolutely nothing" to stop Obamacare.
"I bet you that if anyone tried to go to Canada or even Europe and took away their health care and replaced it with something worse, the people would take to the streets in protest. We should do the same."
