Claim: Alex Sink wants to "cut Medicare.
Verdict: REFUTES

Retrieved passages:
title: Alex Sink
text: district twice, and Sink had carried the district in her gubernatorial campaign against Scott. The race was close, with Sink taking 46.6 percent of the vote to Jolly's 48.4 percent. Sink supported the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3020) passed by the United States Congress and enacted on March 30, 2010. Alex Sink believes in the placement of children in a home where it is in the best interests of children regardless of gender preference. She addressed a group of 300 gay and lesbian advocates at the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale. She said, "We need a system

title: Alex Sink
text: Alex Sink Adelaide Alexander Sink (born June 5, 1948) is an American politician and financier. A member of the Democratic Party, Sink was the Chief Financial Officer for the state of Florida and treasurer on the board of trustees of the Florida State Board of Administration. She was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Florida and faced Republican nominee Rick Scott in the 2010 Florida gubernatorial election, losing to Scott by a 1% margin. Sink was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate in the special election, losing to Republican David Jolly on March 11, 2014, in a race to fill the vacancy

title: Alex Sink
text: was the Democratic candidate for Florida's office of Chief Financial Officer in 2006. She defeated Republican Tom Lee 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent. She also was the first Democrat elected to the state Cabinet since 1998. On August 30, 2010, Sink sent letters to the Florida Supreme Court and Florida Department of Management Services that preliminary findings warranted an audit via her DFS, Bureau of Auditing for excessive spending on the First District Court of Appeal of Florida courthouse, referred to as the "Taj Mahal" by judges around Florida as their districts are facing budget cuts. The CFO's office states

title: Alex Sink
text: in September. On October 25, 2010, during a televised debate, Sink read a text message sent to her make up artist's cellular phone from a campaign official instructing Sink as to debate strategy, contrary to the rules of the debate. Sink fired the adviser who sent the text message. After a close election, Sink conceded, giving victory to Scott. He carried 49% of the vote, and she 48%. Republican Bill Young, who had represented the 13th District and its predecessors since 1971, died on October 18, 2013. On October 30, Sink told the "Tampa Bay Times" that she would run

title: Alex Sink
text: in which all of our children are assured that they live in a healthy, loving home -- a home that's determined not by any law." "The decision has to be made by the judge, in consultation with the experts, to determine what is the best for that individual child." Since her two unsuccessful electoral campaigns, Sink has become involved in mentoring tech startups in the Tampa Bay area. On whether she would run for public office again, she said "I've learned to never say never, but I don't think it will happen." Alex Sink Adelaide Alexander Sink (born June 5,

title: Alex Sink
text: making them the only married American couple to both run unsuccessfully in gubernatorial races. They have a son, Bert, and a daughter, Lexi. Sink is a former President of Florida Operations at NationsBank, now Bank of America. She was appointed by former Governor Lawton Chiles to the Commission on Government Accountability to the People, and also served on Chiles' Commission on Education. She was vice-chair of Florida TaxWatch. Sink has also served with the Florida Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, the Beth El Farm Workers Ministry, and as Chairman of the Board of the United Way of Hillsborough County. Sink

title: Alex Sink
text: In January 2009, Sink announced she would not run for either seat, preferring to stand for reelection as CFO. The announcement that Gov. Charlie Crist would forgo re-election to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez altered her position, and on May 13, 2009, Sink announced her intention to run for governor. On August 24, 2010, Sink won the Democratic primary for governor. She faced health care executive Rick Scott in the general election, as well as an independent (NPA) candidate, urban designer and policy analyst, Michael E. Arth. A former independent candidate, Bud Chiles, endorsed Sink

title: 2010 Florida gubernatorial election
text: spent $78 million of his personal wealth in the race. Sink made an issue of Scott's connections to Columbia/HCA, a Medicare billing fraud scandal. One of the turning points in the campaign came during the debate. During a commercial break, Sink's make-up artist delivered a text message on her cell phone to Sink, in direct violation of the debate rules. The rules infraction was immediately pointed out by Scott and the debate moderators. Sink's team was accused of cheating during the debate, and the aide who delivered the message was fired from the campaign the next morning. Afterwards, media and

title: 2010 Florida gubernatorial election
text: and highly contentious election was one of the standout races in 2010. Despite not professing direct allegiance to the movement, Scott benefited from support and endorsement by Tea Party activists, an influential conservative voting bloc of the 2010 midterms. Furthermore, Scott ran aggressively against the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and exit polls indicated considerable support for that position. Alex Sink, the CFO of Florida, was mentioned as a possible candidate to run for Senate or Governor in 2010, but initially declined. When Charlie Crist announced he would not run for re-election, Sink immediately announced her campaign for governor. Sink was

title: Alex Sink
text: in the special election to replace him. She quickly gained support from national Democratic power brokers. The only other declared Democratic candidate, Jessica Ehrlich, who had faced Young in the 2012 general election, dropped out of the race on November 6, effectively handing the nomination to Sink. She faced David Jolly, Young's former general counsel, in the March 11 election. A longtime resident of Thonotosassa in eastern Hillsborough County, Sink told the "Times" that she would move to Pinellas County as soon as possible. Although members of the House are required only to live in the state they represent, it

title: Alex Sink
text: has become a very strong convention that they live in the district they represent. She signed a one-year lease for an apartment near her campaign headquarters in Clearwater to establish residency in the district, with plans to buy a house in the district later. The 13th and its predecessors had been in Republican hands since William Cramer won the seat in the 1954 election; he was succeeded by Young in 1971. It had been one of the earliest districts in the South to turn Republican. It was widely thought that Sink had a chance of winning; Obama had carried the

title: Michael E. Arth
text: staged a photo opportunity after Scott's speech and flummoxed Scott by informing him that he (Arth) was also a gubernatorial candidate. Scott quickly ducked out of the building. Scott later won the Republican primary after spending an estimated $50 million of his own money. After the primaries, Alex Sink challenged Rick Scott to a series of five debates but, at an Orlando rally on August 28, brushed off a direct face-to-face challenge from Arth to debate. Eric Jotkoff, the Florida Democratic Party communications director, who had orchestrated attempts to freeze Arth out of the race, had Arth escorted out of

title: Kathy Hochul
text: which the American people should not be subjected. Hochul acknowledged during her campaign that substantial cuts must be made in the federal budget, and said she would consider cuts in all entitlement programs. However, she expressed opposition to the Republican plan that would re-form Medicare into a voucher system, saying it "would end Medicare as we know it". She said money could be saved in the Medicare program by eliminating waste and purchasing prescription drugs in bulk. She also said that the creation of more jobs would alleviate Medicare and Social Security budget shortfalls due to increased collections of payroll

title: Alex Sink
text: created by the death in 2013 of U.S. Representative Bill Young. Sink was born and raised in Mount Airy, North Carolina, the daughter of Adelaide A. (née Bunker) and Kester A. Sink. Her maternal great-grandfather was Chang Bunker, one of the famous conjoined "Siamese Twins" Chang and Eng Bunker. She is a graduate of Wake Forest University. After graduating with a degree in mathematics, she taught at girls' schools in Sierra Leone and Liberia for three years. Sink is the widow of Florida attorney and politician Bill McBride who was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Governor of Florida in 2002,

title: Political positions of Ron Paul
text: private contracts, and binding arbitration to resolve medical disputes benefits patients, who receive full compensation in a timelier manner than under the current system," as well as physicians and hospitals, since their litigation costs, and malpractice insurance premiums, would be markedly reduced. Paul proposes that all government funding of medical care be eliminated (with the exception, perhaps, of care for veterans). His Plan to Restore America budget proposal would begin a phase out of Medicare starting in 2013, when workers younger than 25 would be able to opt out of participating in the program. He says that during the transition

title: Michael E. Arth
text: "Orlando Sentinel" columnist Scott Maxwell wrote a column on September 2, 2009 titled "Politicos are Hacking Away at Our Choices." Maxwell wrote that party hacks—whom he defined as "those who put personal and party agendas ahead of the public"—from both Republican and Democratic Parties, have forgotten their place. Michael E. Arth invited Florida's top three leaders, the Governor, the Chief Financial Officer, and the Attorney General to an informal debate on August 6, 2009 at a Democratic Club in Deltona, Florida. Charlie Crist, the current governor, is running for Senate in 2010, and the other two, Alex Sink and Bill

title: Kathleen Peters
text: in "pushing through a measure that eliminated a tax inequity affecting condominium owners." Ultimately, however, Peters was defeated by Jolly, who had consistently performed better than her in public polls and in terms of fundraising, and she received 31% of the vote to Jolly's 45% and Bircher's 24%. Jolly would go on to win the election against Alex Sink, the Democratic nominee and the former Chief Financial Officer of Florida. Kathleen Peters Kathleen M. Peters (born February 27, 1961) is a Republican politician and a former member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 69th District, which includes southern

title: Michael E. Arth
text: the rally by a security guard. Rick Scott, for his part, ignored requests to debate from both candidates. Arth was so frustrated by the unwillingness of the major candidates to face off for the sake of public scrutiny that he proposed that debates among all candidates should be a condition of running for office. By the October 25, 2010 Tampa debate between Scott and Sink, Scott had spent $60 million of his own money on the campaign compared to Sink's $28 million. At the same debate, Arth and his running mate, Al Krulick, posed with standup cutouts of Alex Sink

title: Alex Azar
text: has been a critic of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and predicted in 2017 that "There will be a piece of legislation passes this year that is called the repeal of Obamacare. I don't know what's going to be in the substance of it, but there will be a piece of legislation that says that." Also regarding the ACA, Azar said that the Department of Health and Human Services has latitude to "make it work a little better." Azar opposes abortion rights. In a written response to Senator Patty Murray regarding future HHS policy, he said that,

title: Jack Conway (politician)
text: them signed a card. If elected to the Senate, Conway says the first piece of legislation he will introduce would repeal what he calls a "sweetheart deal" for the pharmaceutical industry that currently prohibits Medicare from negotiating for lower prices on prescription drugs. Citing a report from the National Committee on Social Security and Medicare, he says that this alone would save the federal government $200 billion. Conway opposes privatizing Social Security and thinks these benefits should be maintained and protected from any outside risks associated with the financial markets. In his 2002 run for Congress Conway stated that raising