title:  Fox News Attacks Obama’s National Cancer Initiative By Claiming Obamacare Won’t Cover It
text: President Obama gave America a bit of the spirit of the 60 s back when he announced, during his final State of the Union address, his support for a new American  moon shot  to develop a cure for cancer. It harkened back to the days of John F. Kennedy s  We choose to go to the Moon  speech he delivered at Rice University in 1962, and Richard Nixon s signing of the National Cancer Act of 1971 where he dedicated federal funds towards working on a cure for the disease.A national goal to cure one of the worst and widespread diseases known to humanity is an incredible undertaking. If it were successful, it would save countless lives, ease untold amounts of suffering, and reduce the colossal expenses we incur by managing the disease every year. But, because Obama suggested it someone had to have a problem with it.For years now, there has been a running joke of  If Obama is for it, Fox News hates it.  This included such silly notions as drinking enough water every day, to breathing oxygen, and other common-interest items like these. Reality has overwritten satire yet again when Fox News insisted that Obama s national cancer cure initiative was a waste of time because Obamacare won t allow it to happen.One of the objectors was Dr. Marc Siegel, who appeared on Fox and Friends to declare that Obama was the  wrong president to cure cancer.  It was a strange way to start his argument, but the implication was clear. Some conservatives like Siegel just don t want to see Obama with a  win  even if it meant we could cure cancer starting tomorrow.Jumping immediately onto the anti-Obamacare bandwagon, Fox hosts started suggesting that the Affordable Care Act inhibits cancer research. This is something that is not proven true. Some trade groups have made the disingenuous leap connecting cost-saving measures to a reduction in research. However, there are other aspects of the ACA that promote more research across the board.Seigel continued on, implying that Barack Obama had not committed substantial funds to cancer research, by citing Richard Nixon directing $100 million towards cancer research during his presidency. Barack Obama has actually directed $264 million towards cancer research as part of a $2 billion raise to the National Institutes of Health.Seigel also claimed that the ACA wouldn t provide enough coverage for treatments developed during a national cancer initiative:Obamacare is narrow networks of doctors,  he continued.  It doesn t include most of these major medical centers, the cancer institutes. It won t include these treatments that are $100,000 per year. And not only that, as you just said, it stifles innovation.Source: Raw Story Seigel is trying to conflate the coverage of current treatments with cures that have not been invented. It s a bit disingenuous to suggest that a cure that has not actually been developed yet will not be covered by the ACA. Data on which insurance policies cover treatments that have yet to be invented simply do not exist.Seigel s argument about existing treatments does not have merit either. Media Matters had previously pointed out that conservative media had misrepresented the facts in an AP report about narrow health care networks to falsely claim enrollees in ACA exchanges cannot get coverage for treatments at advanced cancer centers. The  narrow networks  that were used as the basis for the right-wing misinformation was a marketing tactic to provide lower premium options to customers and had virtually nothing to do with the ACA forcing them into that position.Watch the full clip below:It s ridiculous that Fox News is actually fighting back against a national cancer cure initiative, simply because they can t let it go on Obamacare, but that is exactly what is happening. He already won on jobs, national security, ending wars, ensuring marriage equality, providing health insurance to tens of millions and bringing America back into the hearts and minds of the rest of the world. They can t stand the thought of him also being the president that  cured cancer  as well.featured image: screengrab