Fact Check: Health Care Claims In Republican Debate

News organizations have been looking into candidates' statements from Thursday night's debate, including one by Gov. Rick Perry about Mitt Romney's book, Rep. Michele Bachmann and Perry on the HPV vaccine and Herman Cain on his cancer and the health law. 

Kaiser Health News provides video clips and a transcript of the exchanges.

Politifact.com/St. Petersburg Times: Rick Perry Says Mitt Romney Shifted Stance When He Deleted Health Care Line From His Book
Perry's right that Romney's comments about health care were edited between editions. Among other things, a line that advocated the Massachusetts model as a strong option for other states was replaced by a shorter, more generic sentence. But Perry exaggerates by making it sound as though Romney had advocated his state's plan as national health care policy -- a potentially damaging position in a Republican primary. That's not what Romney wrote. We rule Perry's claim Mostly False (Bowers, 9/23).

The Washington Post: Fact Checking The GOP Debate In Orlando
Herman Cain’s story of surviving cancer is inspiring, but it’s unclear how the Obama health-care law would have affected his medical treatment because it builds on the current insurance-company system. Of course, it’s true that insurance companies might put someone between you and your doctor, as Romney put it, but that’s what has been happening for years under so-called managed care. Most studies indicate that most people currently on private insurance would experience little change once the Obama health plan is implemented. In fact, the main goal of the Obama law was to cover the millions of Americans who are uninsured (Kessler, 9/23).

ABC News: Fact Check: Perry Met Dying Woman After Vaccine Order
Although Rick Perry said at a debate on Thursday that he was “lobbied” by a 31-year-old woman suffering from cervical cancer to require young girls to receive the HPV vaccine, he did not meet the cancer patient until after he had already issued his executive order mandating the vaccine (Saenz, 9/23).

CNN: Truth Squad: Did Bachmann's HPV vaccination claim ring true? 
[Rep. Michele Bachmann's]  statement: "Governor Perry mandated a health care decision on all 12-year-old little girls in the state of Texas. And by that mandate, those girls had to have a shot for a sexually transmitted disease." Texas' rules were to take effect in September 2008. However, the Texas Legislature passed a bill overturning Perry's order in April 2007. Perry declined to veto the bill, which went into effect in May 2007, killing his order (9/23).

FactCheck.org: Fanciful ‘Facts’ At Fox News Debate
Bachmann said a recent study from UBS "said the number-one reason why employers aren’t hiring is because of Obamacare." Not quite. The "study" to which she referred was actually a Sept. 19 report by UBS Investment Research that stated the opinion of the analysts (without offering any data) that the new law is "arguably" the biggest impediment to hiring, “particularly hiring of less skilled workers." (The report also said repeal of the law would be "bullish" for the stock prices of managed-care companies, and said Washington policymakers, including Republicans, are "not pursuing a pro-growth immigration policy") (Jackson et al., 9/23).