Fact-Checking Fail of the Year
Jonathan Cohn
TNR
December 20, 2011 | 10:43 am
Politifact is getting a ton of grief from the left today. And deservedly so. The independent fact-checking organization has selected, as its "lie of the year," the claim that House Republicans want to “kill” or “end” Medicare. Like Steve Benen and Paul Krugman, I think Politifact got this one very, very wrong. And that's no small matter: It's the lead story, with a massive headline, on the front page of today's St. Petersburg Times – an influential newspaper in a key election state loaded with senior citizens.* In the coming months, Politifact's finding is sure to appear prominently in campaign advertising.
Let's review the facts: In 2022, were the House Republican plan to become law, new retirees would no longer have the option of enrolling in the traditional government-run insurance program. Instead, retirees would get a voucher, which they could use to pay for a private insurance policy within a regulated marketplace. The voucher’s value would depend on a formula pegged to the general inflation rate. If it were not enough to pay for a health policy – and most experts, including the Congressional Budget Office, believe it would not be – seniors would have to make up the difference on their own.
One likely consequence is that insurers would begin offering cheaper, but skimpier, benefit plans: Seniors might still be “insured” but they would no longer have comprehensive benefits. Many would simply not be able to pay for their medical care, much as seniors did routinely before 1965, when Medicare came into existence.
Does that amount to ending Medicare? Politifact says no, for two reasons. First, the organization says, Democratic and kindred groups have run ads featuring people who look very old. Since the proposal would only affect people 55 and younger, Politifact argues, that’s misleading. Second, Politifact says, the Republican proposal would leave in place a program that provides the elderly with both financial assistance and access to insurance. Ergo, Medicare would still exist.
(More here.)
TNR
December 20, 2011 | 10:43 am
Politifact is getting a ton of grief from the left today. And deservedly so. The independent fact-checking organization has selected, as its "lie of the year," the claim that House Republicans want to “kill” or “end” Medicare. Like Steve Benen and Paul Krugman, I think Politifact got this one very, very wrong. And that's no small matter: It's the lead story, with a massive headline, on the front page of today's St. Petersburg Times – an influential newspaper in a key election state loaded with senior citizens.* In the coming months, Politifact's finding is sure to appear prominently in campaign advertising.
Let's review the facts: In 2022, were the House Republican plan to become law, new retirees would no longer have the option of enrolling in the traditional government-run insurance program. Instead, retirees would get a voucher, which they could use to pay for a private insurance policy within a regulated marketplace. The voucher’s value would depend on a formula pegged to the general inflation rate. If it were not enough to pay for a health policy – and most experts, including the Congressional Budget Office, believe it would not be – seniors would have to make up the difference on their own.
One likely consequence is that insurers would begin offering cheaper, but skimpier, benefit plans: Seniors might still be “insured” but they would no longer have comprehensive benefits. Many would simply not be able to pay for their medical care, much as seniors did routinely before 1965, when Medicare came into existence.
Does that amount to ending Medicare? Politifact says no, for two reasons. First, the organization says, Democratic and kindred groups have run ads featuring people who look very old. Since the proposal would only affect people 55 and younger, Politifact argues, that’s misleading. Second, Politifact says, the Republican proposal would leave in place a program that provides the elderly with both financial assistance and access to insurance. Ergo, Medicare would still exist.
(More here.)
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2 Comments:
It is hard to know what is true or not true on the internet. Abraham Lincoln
Who cares? If you rely on the government for every excruciating detail of your life, you are eventually going to be:
1) disappointed, or worse
2) screwed
It's hard to believe that civilization existed before 1965.
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