Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:06 pm
Glenn Beck was on FNC’s The O’Reilly Factor on Friday, where he continued to spread lies and falsehoods about the healthcare reform bill. Beck is still claiming that under the bill, people who don’t buy insurance will face jail time. This is not true. The penalty for not buying insurance is an additional tax. No one will go to jail.
Here is the video:
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Here is Beck and O’Reilly’s exchange courtesy of Media Matters:
O’REILLY: Couldn’t they do [liposuction] at the same time [as your appendectomy]?
BECK: No, they wouldn’t. No. I don’t have universal health care.
O’REILLY: Well you will soon.
BECK: Or I’ll go to jail.
O’REILLY: Are you going to be a conscientious objector to health care?
BECK: You know, this is the first time in history in our country where, just to be a citizen, just to not go to jail, you have to buy something.
According to Media Matters, “If a person does not have acceptable health care coverage, Section 501 imposes a tax on that person “not to exceed the applicable national average premium.” Beck’s claim is absurdly false, and he should know better if he read the bill, as he claims. This is example number 724, 642 of Glenn Beck’s lack of concern for facts. Yet, this is the man who is positioning himself as the champion of a new conservative party.
Maybe Beck can recruit Palin to lead his new party? She has already admitted that she is a big fan of his. Although it is no shock that she gets so many things wrong, as she relies on Glenn as an honest source of information. Despite Beck’s lies, the healthcare bill will pass, and he will use it as a platform to champion his third party.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
