Note the date of this tweet:
I cannot support any bill that would jeopardize health care coverage for Medicare beneficiaries. #tcot #utpol
— Orrin Hatch (@OrrinHatch) December 2, 2009
Note that Hatch was one of the 13 white men who drafted the Senate’s version of the health bill, called the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) with no apparent sense of irony. The bill repeals a tax that currently pays into the Medicare Trust Fund, so it would be out of money two years earlier than currently anticipated (2026 rather than 2028). It does other horrible things too, but that one belies Hatch’s claim in 2009.
As Governor Howard Dean said when he retweeted Hatch: “This is why Americans hate politicians as much as they do. This is a lie.”