Email outreach to PolitiFact’s Angie Drobnic Holan, Aaron Sharockman

Zebra Fact Check logo
As part of a critical assessement of a PolitiFact fact check, we sent an email to PolitiFact Editor Angie Drobnic Holan and PolitiFact Executive Director Aaron Sharockman.

If you wonder why I write to you less frequently these days, it is because trying to communicate errors to PolitiFact via email counts as one of the least transparent processes one could imagine. The customary lack of replies leaves one wondering whether the message was received at all. Twitter is little better in that respect, but at least it has the advantage of built-in transparency.

All that said, the fact check PolitiFact published yesterday of a claim by Nancy Pelosi cannot stand. Her statement and your fact check of her statement leave the unmistakeable [sic] impression that providing CHIP health care services costs less than the alternatives.

The best one can say of that conclusion is that it closely matches CBO’s written assessment.

Unfortunately, it overlooks CBO’s breakdown of its 10-year projection. Pelosi touted $6 billion in savings. CBO’s chart reflects over $10 billion in revenue.

Let’s repeat that point. Reauthorizing CHIP results in over $10 billion in revenue, traced to “Employment-based insurance” and “Marketplaces.”

Subtract the $6.9 billion cost increase from the $12.9 billion gain in revenue and Pelosi’s $6 billion in savings materializes by magic–apparently courtesy of the American taxpayer.

Does PolitiFact want to be the fact checker that describes an increase in government revenue as “savings”?

Please give your readers a better fact check of Pelosi’s claim.

We will update this post with any response we receive from Holan or Sharockman.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.