Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann told supporters in Costa Mesa, California Friday that President Barack Obama's plan was to allow the Medicare system to collapse so it could be replaced with "Obamacare."
"I was in the White House a couple of months ago with President Obama and we asked him the question, 'Mr. President, Medicare is in trouble, it's in trouble, what is your plan?'" she recalled. "And he mumble, mumble, mumbled and didn't answer the question. And then we asked him a second time, 'What's your plan for Medicare?' He mumble, mumble, mumbled, didn't answer the question. We asked asked him a third time, 'What's your answer for Medicare?' And he mumble, mumble, mumbled and then he said something very interesting. He said, 'Obamacare.'"
"In all likelihood, his plan is that Medicare collapses and senior citizens go into Obamacare," Bachmann explained.
The candidate went on to claim the president had "abused his authority on Obamacare" because the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued guidelines that require health insurance companies to cover women's health care services, including birth control, without co-pays or deductibles.
"It wasn't very long ago that he ordered all insurance companies in the United States, all private insurance companies, now you must offer a certain pharmaceutical drug to all women across the United States, whether you agree with the issue or not, and you cannot even charge a co-pay... This is a stunning level of power where a president can just like that -- like a dictator -- force a private insurance company to have to offer something or not offer something," she said.
But the reforms offered in "Obamacare" weren't Bachmann's only target Thursday. The Minnesota Republican released a campaign video attacking Texas Gov. Rick Perry's attempt to mandate HPV vaccinations to prevent cervical cancer in 11-year-old and 12-year-old girls, calling the plan "Perrycare."
"As a parent of three daughters, I believe that parents are the ones who should decide if our young daughters should received injections for sexually transmitted diseases," she declared. "And so, whether its Obamacare or whether its Perrycare, I oppose any governor or president who mandates a family's health care choices."
At the CNN Tea Party Express debate Monday, Bachmann had attacked Perry for attempting to issue the mandate after vaccine maker Merck contributed to his campaign. The next day she went even further, claiming that mental retardation was a "very real concern" with the drug.
The Center for Disease Control recommends the vaccine and maintains that it is safe.
