An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
“Obama said the cost of “health care is now the single-biggest factor driving down” the federal budget deficit. … We rate Obama’s claim Mostly True.” —PolitiFact, from an Oct. 8, 2014 fact check of President Obama Overview The mainstream fact checker PolitiFact exemplifies inconsistency with its fact check of President Obama. The Facts On Oct. 8, 2014, PolitiFact published a…
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“Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more than 7 million Americans have signed up for private health coverage.” —the White House, April 2014 on the whitehouse.gov website Overview The White House generously doles out undeserved credit to itself. The Facts The White House website has a menu option for exploring the administration’s stance on issues. Clicking the “Health Care”…
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How PolitiFact’s 2013 “Lie of the Year” selection was even worse than you thought It was Nov. 4, 2013, and insurance companies had already started to send cancellation notices to customers whose policies failed to meet the administration’s “essential benefits” standards under the Affordable Care Act. The media recognized the failure of the president’s pledge that Americans could keep the…
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“The total cost of the Affordable Care Act to provide health insurance for every American out there at an affordable rate is costing about the same amount over the course of ten years as the cost of the prescription-drug bill that President Bush passed.” —President Barack Obama, Sept. 24, 2013 Overview The president simplifies a complicated picture in ways…
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“Barack Obama said the deficit has fallen at the fastest rate in 60 years. … the president used an acceptable approach and his numbers are accurate. There are no statistical tricks in play.” —PolitiFact Overview Eyes wide open, PolitiFact falls for the oldest statistical tricks in the book. The Facts President Obama made the speech containing his reference to…
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“Today, our businesses have created 7.3 million new jobs over the last 41 months. We now sell more products made in America to the rest of the world than ever before. We produce more renewable energy than ever, and more natural gas than anyone. Health care costs are growing at the slowest rate in 50 years. And our deficits are…
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On July 19, 2013 the Washington Post Fact Checker, Glenn Kessler, published a fact check of President Obama’s claim that the ACA’s medical loss ratio rules saved consumers $3.4 billion. That interested us, for we fact checked a version of the same claim coming from Consumer Reports. Finding other fact checkers investigating similar claims provides an opportunity to see how…
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“[S]ome extremists [believe] that Islam is in conflict with the United States and the West, and that violence against Western targets, including civilians, is justified in pursuit of a larger cause. Of course, this ideology is based on a lie, for the United States is not at war with Islam. And this ideology is rejected by the vast majority of…
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“And whenever insurance premiums go up, you’re being told it’s because of Obamacare — even though there’s no evidence that that’s the case.” —President Barack Obama, May 10, 2013 Overview Perhaps the president misspoke. The ACA has a number of features that experts agree will raise premium costs. The Facts President Obama made his remarks about the ACA in…
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“I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom that’s been floating around Washington that somehow, even though most people agree that I’m being reasonable, that most people agree I’m presenting a fair deal, the fact that they don’t take it means that I should somehow do a Jedi mind-meld with these folks and convince them to do…
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