A recent AP “factcheck” article contains several major errors:
CLAIM: Health care revisions would lead to government-funded abortions. . .
THE FACTS: The proposed bills would not undo the Hyde Amendment, which bars paying for abortions through Medicaid, the government insurance program for the poor. But a health care overhaul could create a government-run insurance program, or insurance “exchanges,” that would not involve Medicaid and whose abortion guidelines are not yet clear.
Obama recently told CBS that the nation should continue a tradition of “not financing abortions as part of government-funded health care.”
(Via Newsbusters.)
In fact, President Obama said nothing of the sort. What he said was:
As you know, I’m pro choice. But I think we also have a tradition of, in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government funded health care. Rather than wade into that issue at this point, I think that it’s appropriate for us to figure out how to just deliver on the cost savings, and not get distracted by the abortion debate at this station.
That is, he cited the existence of the tradition, but didn’t give any indication that we should continue it. In fact, he pointedly refused to say.
Moreover, another AP story out a few days later reported that the legislation would indeed cover abortions, and uses an accounting fig leaf to try to hide the fact.
The factcheck flubs another one as well:
CLAIM: Americans won’t have to change doctors or insurance companies.
“If you like your plan and you like your doctor, you won’t have to do a thing,” Obama said on June 23. “You keep your plan; you keep your doctor.”
THE FACTS: The proposed legislation would not require people to drop their doctor or insurer. But some tax provisions, depending on how they are written, might make it cheaper for some employers to pay a fee to end their health coverage. Their workers presumably would move to a public insurance plan that might not include their current doctors.
I’m glad that it rebuts the claim, but it does so much too weakly. The tax provisions are unsettled and beside the point. The bill would ban private health insurance. Existing coverage is grandfathered, but plans could not sign new customers or even make changes to the plan. Under such conditions, existing coverage would not survive for long.
Internet Scofflaw 