Health Care Spin – Yet Again

The non-partisan truth seekers at Factcheck.org have issued their fourth review and repudiation of the lies and distortions targeting the Affordable Care Act. Sadly, “death panels” and other canards still are being pushed.

Summary

As the election draws near, some conservative groups are making ever-wilder claims about the new health care law:

• An elderly man in a Crossroads GPS ad makes the death-panel-esque claim that the law “threatens our lives.”
• The 60 Plus Association has a World War II veteran evoking the Normandy invasion and claiming that “your freedoms will be chipped away,” unless the legislation is repealed.
• The American Action Network made the false statement that “jail time” would be the punishment for not having insurance, when the law in fact forbids any criminal penalties.

In addition, we continue to see claims from the Republican side that the law creates “government-run” health care, or will cause a steep rise in premiums for typical families, or will give health insurance to illegal immigrants, or will lead to widespread cuts in Medicare benefits. As we’ve written before, none of that is true. We also see claims that the law allows tax dollars to be used to fund abortions, despite specific language in the law forbidding that.

Misrepresenting the health care law has been perhaps the single most dominant theme of attack ads by GOP candidates, party groups and independent conservative organizations. A record estimated $4 billion is being spent on both sides in this midterm election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. And from our observations, a large part of that is being spent to discredit the health care legislation and the Democrats who voted for it. In this article we wrap up all this health care spin, examining both the latest claims and those that have been repeated most often.

Click here for further analysis and case-by-case review.