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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Taxes on ‘Sick Puppies’?

The National Republican Congressional Committee claims the federal health care law taxes “sick puppies,” but that’s a big stretch. No puppies are taxed by the law. Instead, the reference is to a tax on medical devices.
For more, see our June 19 story, “NRCC: ‘Obamacare’ Taxes Sick Puppies.”

Romney, Obama Uphold Health Care Falsehoods

Romney, Obama Uphold Health Care Falsehoods

With the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act on June 28, voters are guaranteed to continue hearing the same old false claims about the law from politicians. And President Barack Obama and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney wasted little time …

How Much Is the Obamacare ‘Tax’?

Q: How much will the “tax” penalty be for going without health insurance?

A: The minimum assessment will be $695 per person (but no more than $2,085 per family) in 2016, when fully phased in. The amount can be higher depending on income. But there are exemptions for low-income persons and others.

Premium Hype

Both Republicans and the Obama administration have pushed misleading claims on what impact the federal health care law has on insurance premiums.
For more on this issue, see “Misleading on Premiums” from March 26.

‘Life of Julia’ Not So Realistic

The Obama campaign’s fictitious portrayal of a woman’s life under the president’s policies versus those of Mitt Romney exaggerates the impact of the federal health care law.
Read about other claims in the “Julia” slide show in our May 8 article, “ ‘The Life of Julia,’ Corrected.”

Kids and Preexisting Conditions

An Obama campaign video wrongly implies that 17 million kids with preexisting conditions were being denied health insurance before the federal law was passed.
Read more about the Obama administration’s claim in our March 21 article, “Obama ‘Road’ Film Takes Some Detours.”

Small Businesses and the Health Care Law

Is the Affordable Care Act “devastating to small businesses,” as some critics claim? We find such assertions are overblown. The law is actually beneficial to truly small companies.
See “GOP’s ‘Job-Killing’ Whopper, Again” (Feb. 21) for more on claims about the impact on small businesses.

‘Obama’s Promise,’ Part II

‘Obama’s Promise,’ Part II

And now, the rest of the story on that misleading “Obama’s Promise” ad from Crossroads GPS.
Besides the almost totally false claim that we covered earlier, the ad also:

Claims the president broke a promise to help homeowners facing foreclosure, when in fact 5.9 million have received assistance.
Gives a somewhat darker picture of the mortgage foreclosure situation than the facts warrant.
Exaggerates the number of persons likely to lose employer-sponsored health coverage under the new health care law.

Obama Eats His Words

Obama Eats His Words

President Obama is being forced to modify his absurdly wrong claim that it would be “unprecedented” for the Supreme Court to strike down the new health care law.
He made that statement April 2 in a news conference:
Obama, April 2: Ultimately, I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.
As any number of others were quick to point out,