Steve King: Palin right on death panels

The day after Romney endorsed him, the Iowa congressman was spreading lies VIDEO

Topics: Steve King, Sarah Palin, Death Panels, Obamacare, Affordable Care Act, Iowa, Tea Party,

Steve King: Palin right on death panels

On Friday, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney endorsed controversial Rep. Steve King, the far-right Iowa congressman known for his outlandish comments about immigrants and Obama’s birthplace, among other things. The night after, in a debate with Democrat Christie Vilsack, King said that Sarah Palin had “correctly identified” death panels in the Affordable Care Act.

“And now, we’re looking at a socialized medicine system that takes away 17 percent of our economy and takes away your ability to manage your own health and puts it in the hands of the government and a panel of 15 IPAB bureaucrats that Sarah Palin correctly identified,” King said. Palin famously called the group a “death panel.”

King previously warned about government panels that will “make a decision on whether your life is worth saving” as recently as last month, even though IPAB, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, does nothing of the sort. The panel, designed to come up with ways to contain the cost of Medicare spending, is by law not allowed to “ration health care” and has no oversight over individual cases. Video of the comments:

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Alex Seitz-Wald is Salon's political reporter. Email him at aseitz-wald@salon.com, and follow him on Twitter @aseitzwald.

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