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FactCheck Wins Sigma Delta Chi Award

FactCheck Wins Sigma Delta Chi Award

We are happy to announce that the staff of FactCheck.org has won a 2010 Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Sen. Barrasso’s Medicare Mistake

Sen. John Barrasso mistakenly claimed that "57 percent of doctors don’t want new Medicare patients," which isn’t true. His own spokeswoman admits he got it wrong.
National surveys have put the number who don’t take new Medicare patients as low as 14 percent, and a big American Medical Association survey last year showed only 17 percent of all physicians said they were "restricting" Medicare patients (either taking none, or just some).
The Wyoming senator — who is also a physician —

We Won a Webby

We Won a Webby

We are proud to announce that FactCheck.org has won the 2011 Webby Award in the Politics category.

Rubio Inconsistent on Medicare

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida offered a wildly inconsistent view of what constitutes a "cut" from Medicare. Rubio claimed that Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan "doesn’t cut Medicare" but that the federal health care law does.
Actually, Ryan’s plan leaves in place many of the Medicare "cuts" in the health care law. And over the long-term, Ryan’s plan would "cut" or "save" (we’ll leave the word choice to our readers) even more by requiring future beneficiaries to pay a higher percentage of health care costs.

Trump 100 Percent Wrong on Egyptian ‘Vote’

Donald Trump falsely claimed that 99 percent of Egyptians voted to end the peace treaty with Israel. There was no such vote, although a recent poll found that 54 percent do support ending the treaty.

60 Plus Wrong on Rationing

The chairman of the conservative 60 Plus Association made the bogus claim that the Food and Drug Administration has "declassified" a breast cancer drug "because of cost and cost alone," an example, he said, of the "rationing" of Medicare because of the federal health care law.
Jim Martin, the head of 60 Plus, made the inaccurate statement in an interview with ABC News in which he also claimed that "ending Medicare as we know it happened a year ago in March …

Indeed, Born in the U.S.A.

President Barack Obama released the long-form version of his birth certificate today, yet another piece of concrete evidence that shows he was born in the United States. The White House said he received a special exemption from the Hawaii Department of Health, which keeps the long-form documents confidential.

The pdf version of the document can be seen here.
In remarks to the press today, Obama said that his campaign had already released his birth certificate in 2008.

Rev. Graham and the Signs of Armageddon

On ABC’s “This Week,” the Rev. Franklin Graham was wrong when he said that earthquakes, wars and famines are occurring “with more frequency and more intensity.”
The preacher, who is the son of the Rev. Billy Graham and president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, discussed the prophecy of Armageddon with host Christiane Amanpour during a special Easter edition of the Sunday talk show.
Graham, April 24: I believe we are in the latter days of this age.

Obama Misrepresents Ryan Plan

President Barack Obama has been hammering away at Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposal, misrepresenting what it would mean for seniors.
Since his deficit speech April 13, Obama has continued to claim that the Republican plan would throw Medicare beneficiaries to the open insurance market. But, as we said last week, the plan would create a new Medicare exchange, with rules for participating insurance companies.
Obama, April 20, Facebook town hall: And if the health insurance companies don’t sell [retirees] a policy that covers your illnesses,

Ryan’s Muddy Medicare Claims

Rep. Paul Ryan’s claim that Medicare will be "bankrupt in nine years" goes too far. The trust fund that primarily supports one part of Medicare is projected to be exhausted come 2020, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees said it might not actually happen until 2029. That still doesn’t mean the system will be "bankrupt," though.
The House Budget Committee chairman was making the case for his 2012 budget proposal,