A Web ad from Republican Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land claims Rep. Gary Peters backed “carbon taxes” that would have “killed up to 96,000 Michigan jobs.” But Peters didn’t support a carbon tax, which has never advanced to a vote in Congress.
Allyson Schwartz misrepresents her opponent’s business dealings in a TV ad in Pennsylvania’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry used grossly misleading statistics to criticize the unemployment picture under President Obama. Perry said there are “90 million people that are out of work” and “more women out of the workforce now than at any time in our history.”
In the Alaska Senate race, a radio ad from GOP frontrunner Dan Sullivan complains of “outright lies” in a TV ad from a super PAC supporting Democratic Sen. Mark Begich. The pro-Begich ad complains about the Koch brothers supporting Sullivan’s campaign.
It has been a campaign tradition: Election cycles filled with ads about the Affordable Care Act — and overwhelmingly ads attacking the law and those who support it. The 2014 midterm election could be even more intense.
Republican congressional candidates claim the health care law puts the government between you and your doctor. But the law boosts private insurance, and it doesn’t create a government-run system.
Ads criticizing the Affordable Care Act make the general claim that it’s “hurting” families. Some families could pay more for insurance, but millions of the uninsured will gain coverage. And millions will get subsidies to help pay for coverage.
Several ads make the misleading claim that premiums and health care costs are “skyrocketing” under the Affordable Care Act. Overall, both are growing at historically low rates. Some who buy their own insurance will pay more, but others will pay less.
Anti-Obamacare ads have claimed that “millions” lost their health insurance and their doctors because of the law. But policyholders weren’t denied coverage, and there’s evidence that far more gained insurance than had their plans canceled.
President Obama went too far in saying the Affordable Care Act meant “everybody” would have “basic health care.” The law doesn’t create a universal health care system, and not everyone will have insurance.