FactCheck.org Author: Lori Robertson

How to Not Prove a Point

August 11, 2009

The United Kingdom’s Department of Health may not have expected to face such harsh criticism during debate of overhauling the health care system here in the United States. As we’ve repeatedly said, neither President Obama nor the major health care bills in Congress call for replicating the U.K.’s government-run and government-provided system. But our neighbors across the pond would have to smile – or perhaps laugh out loud – at this claim, courtesy of the conservative Investor’s Business Daily:

IBD editorial,

August 10, 2009

In 2008, U.S. health care spending is estimated to have been $2.4 trillion. It is projected to nearly double to $4.4 trillion in 2018.
Source: Health Affairs/Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Dying on a Wait List?

August 6, 2009

Perhaps the most emotional of the health care ads we’ve seen in recent months is the one featuring Canadian Shona Holmes, who warns of the dangers of a government-run health care system. Holmes tells viewers: "I survived a brain tumor. But if I’d relied on my government, I’d be dead. … As my brain tumor got worse, my government health care system told me I had to wait six months to see a specialist. In six months,

White House Fact-Checking

August 5, 2009

We welcome competition – or rather, colleagues – in the fact-checking business. But the latest entrant to our line of work is an entity we’ve actually fact-checked, and will continue to fact-check. Regularly.
The White House, according to its official blog, is encouraging people to send along any health care rumors or claims, mainly of the "scary" chain e-mail variety, that seem "fishy." In its first installment of these debunking efforts, Linda Douglass, the communications director for the Health Reform Office,

CPR Administers Bad Facts, Again

August 3, 2009

The latest ad from the group Conservatives for Patients’ Rights claims that “new rules could hike your health insurance premiums 95 percent.” That’s misleading. The claim in the ad refers to only 5 percent of Americans who have health insurance – those who buy it on their own. The claim comes from an analysis by a group that advocates for …

Obama’s Health Care News Conference

July 23, 2009

President Obama tried to sell his health care overhaul in prime time, mangling some facts in the process. He also strained to make the job sound easier to pay for than experts predict. Obama promised once again that a health care overhaul “will be paid for.” But congressional budget experts say …

Canadian Straw Man

July 17, 2009

Two ads from related independent groups make claims about an overhaul of the health care system, saying Congress wants a government-run health care system. One ad claims that “Washington wants to bring Canadian-style health care to the U.S.” But the health care bills moving through Congress don’t call for a single-payer system like Canada’s …

Tax-and-Spend Twittering

July 15, 2009

On July 14, House Democrats released their health care bill and Republicans were quick to criticize it. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich took to Twitter, typing out: “The liberal health bill introduced by pelosi is a disaster. $1.5 trillion in new spending. Tax increases on virtually everyone.”
Gingrich wasn’t the only one to say the bill would cost $1.5 trillion (over 10 years, that is), but the other person who said it remains anonymous. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office,

England’s and Canada’s Health Care

July 9, 2009

Q: Is it true that persons older than 59 can’t get heart surgery in England?
A: There’s no such prohibition on heart operations in England, as a chain e-mail claims.

More Unemployment Blues

July 2, 2009

If you’re the glass-half-full type, you might think it’s good news that the nation’s unemployment rate was largely unchanged from May to June. It crept up just 0.1 percentage points to 9.5 percent. But that also means that the original projections from President Obama’s economic advisers on what would happen with and without the stimulus plan are still off — and significantly so.
In mid-June, we wrote about the large discrepancy between the jobs that actually have been lost and what administration economists had predicted in January.