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“Myth: Obamacare is a government takeover of the health care system.” —The Democratic National Committee on its “Your Republican Uncle” website, Nov. 25, 2013 Overview The DNC says it’s a myth that the ACA represents a government takeover of the health care system. The DNC’s case unwittingly undermines itself. The Facts We continue our series of ratings for claims…
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“Myth: Obamacare hurts businesses.” —The Democratic National Committee on its “Your Republican Uncle” website, Nov. 25, 2013 Overview The DNC’s attempt to turn truth into myth creates a distortion of a distortion. The Facts In late 2013, the Democratic National Committee created a website it says gives Democrats answers to Republican myths. We continue our fact check series of…
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“Myth: The website doesn’t work so people can’t sign up for health care even if they wanted to.” —The Democratic National Committee, December 2013 on the “Your Republican Uncle” website Overview The federal exchange site will cause some users to miss deadlines for obtaining insurance. The DNC holds back details it ought to know well. The Facts This myth-busting…
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“Myth: Obamacare isn’t working.” —The Democratic National Committee, December 2013 on its “Your Republican Uncle” website Overview An ambiguous claim misleads, as ambiguous claims often do. The Facts Having completed fact checks dealing with the Democratic National Committee’s claims about the economy, we move on to the DNC’s set of claims about health care at its “Answering Your Republican…
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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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“[T]he International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans … found that about three-quarters of all employer-sponsored health plans already meet the criteria of the Affordable Care Act.” —PunditFact, Nov. 20, 2013 Overview PunditFact, the pundit-checking branch of PolitiFact, misuses a 2013 survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans to help excuse insurance plan cancellations under the ACA. The…
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“Today we saw a clear contrast: Democrats are working to fix and improve the Affordable Care Act, while Republicans still want to go back to the days when insurance companies could deny people coverage for pre-existing conditions, treat being a woman as a pre-existing condition, and watch health care costs drive families into bankruptcy.” —Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nov….
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“From what we know now, [Jason] Furman’s statement stands up to scrutiny. He earns a rare Geppetto Checkmark.” —Glenn Kessler the Washington Post Fact Checker, Nov. 11, 2013 Overview Furman’s statement needs more scrutiny. The Facts The Washington Post Fact Checker, Glenn Kessler, posted a fact check of a White House economic adviser on November 11, 2013. The adviser,…
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“[Glenn] Beck said that when Obama promised that people could keep the plans they like, he knew that half of all Americans would lose their health insurance. Beck is wrong in every respect. The primary study he relied on contradicts his number, saying that at most 50 million people would lose coverage, not 125 million.” —PunditFact, Nov. 6, 2013 …
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Fact checker “PolitiFact” spins its fact check failures on health care reform The media have rightly joined the public in criticizing President Obama’s veracity in claiming Americans could keep their health care plans if they liked them. And many have rightly criticized PolitiFact for turning a more-or-less blind eye on the president’s preposterous sales job. But PolitiFact isn’t taking this…
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