A new study from researchers with the Harvard Medical School found that 45,000 deaths a year can be attributed to the lack of health insurance. Our readers ask: Really? And, they want to know, isn’t this finding actually from the single-payer advocacy group Physicians for a National Health Program?
We’ll answer the latter first: The study was conducted by six researchers who were all with the Department of Medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, which is affiliated with Harvard Medical School.
September 24, 2009
The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, created term limits for the president. The longest a person can serve is 10 years, by serving for two years to fill the vacancy of the previous president, and then being elected president twice.
Source: Annenberg Classroom
Social Security COLA
Q: Will Social Security recipients be denied a cost of living increase next year? Are Democrats to blame?
A: There won’t be a COLA increase paid this January, and probably not in January 2011, either. But the cause is volatile oil prices, not anything done by the current Congress.
September 23, 2009
Benjamin Franklin, at age 81, was the oldest person to sign the Constitution. Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey, at 26, was the youngest.
Source: Annenberg Classroom
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Sept. 15-Sept. 21
This week, readers sent us comments on emergency health care for undocumented immigrants, proper citations, persistent falsehoods about ACORN and Muslim holidays.
In the FactCheck Mailbag we feature some of the e-mail we receive. Readers can send comments to editor@factcheck.org. Letters may be edited for length.
Boehner and the Cost of Cap and Trade
On Sept. 20 on NBC’s "Meet the Press," House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio claimed that according to the Department of Treasury, the Democrats’ proposed cap-and-trade system would be costly for American families:
Boehner, Sept. 20: It’s a cap-and-trade system, this big giant tax on the American people that this week, we just find out, the Treasury Department said will cost the average family $1,700 per year.
That’s not true.
September 22, 2009
Although considered Founding Fathers of the United States, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams did not sign the Constitution. They were serving as U.S. ministers overseas and did not attend the Constitutional Convention.
Source: Annenberg Classroom
Muslim Prayer Day Sept. 25
Q: Who’s behind the Muslim prayer day at the Capitol Sept. 25?
A: The New Jersey lawyer (and former Bucknell University star tailback) who is organizing the event says it’s to show "we love America." He was inspired by the president’s inaugural address and Cairo speech.
Dueling Ads in Virginia Race, Part 2
Last week, we wrote about a TV ad from Virginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate to be the state’s governor, which misleadingly described his opponent’s role in utility rate increases over the last few years. Deeds’ Republican challenger, former Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell, responded with a misleading ad of his own.
The ad turns the tables on Deeds, saying that he "supports Washington’s cap and trade energy scheme that will dramatically increase utility rates for families and kill 56,000 coal and manufacturing jobs."
September 21, 2009
The word “democracy” is not used once in the Constitution.
Source: Annenberg Classroom