Barack Obama wasn’t the only person misstating health care facts during prime time on Sept. 9. Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany delivered the Republican response to Obama’s speech. We found a couple of factual flaws.
Bureaucracies vs. Bureaucrats
Boustany exaggerated when he stated that the Democrats’ bill "created 53 new bureaucracies." The claim is based on an analysis of H.R. 3200 conducted by the House Republican Conference. The Republicans’ analysis charges that "the House Democrats’
Obama’s Health Care Speech
President Obama’s prime-time address to Congress and the nation on health care prompted a Republican congressman to shout “you lie!” Did he? Here’s what we’ve found: Obama was correct when he said his plan wouldn’t insure illegal immigrants; the House bill expressly forbids giving subsidies to those who are …
September 10, 2009
More than half – 55 percent – of 3- and 4-year-olds in the U.S. were enrolled in school, as of October 2007.
Source: Census Bureau
Cantor’s Gender Problem
At a press stakeout on Capitol Hill today, House GOP Whip Eric Cantor sounded bullish about his party’s success in pouring cold water on the idea of a "government option," or a federal health insurance plan that would compete with private plans. That’s fine, but he made one statement that puzzled us:
Cantor, 9/9: I think intuitively that most Americans believe that more government in health care means more rationing and more forced discrimination on the basis of gender and age.
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Sept. 1-Sept. 8
This week, readers sent us comments on Medicare, skepticism and the expansion of FactCheck into other forms of media.
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.
‘No Guarantee’ — With Plan, or Without
Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, whose ads we have faulted in the past, is airing a new spot that calls for dropping any federal insurance option from the health care overhaul bills.
"Despite what the president or Congress say," the narrator tells us, "their health care proposals do not guarantee you can keep your own doctor." And there’s no guarantee you won’t "wait longer for care," face "rationing," or "lose your insurance," either, she says.
Why not?
September 9, 2009
There are an estimated 19 million students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities this fall. That’s a 41 percent increase from 20 years ago.
Source: Census Bureau
Obama’s Speech to Schools
Q: Did Obama change his back-to-school speech in response to pressure from conservatives?
A: One exercise in the accompanying lesson plan was reworded.
Senior Scare, Yet Again
The Democratic National Committee says in a TV ad that “Republicans voted to abolish Medicare.” Not true. The ad refers to a proposal endorsed by most House Republicans as part of the alternative budget they presented earlier this year. In fact, the GOP plan actually called for …
September 8, 2009
A total of 76 million people were enrolled in school — from nursery school to college — in the U.S. in October 2007. That’s 27 percent of the population age 3 and older.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau