The fact-checkers for WaPo’s Fact Checker column are a little pissed off:
Somewhere, somehow, a memo must have gone out to Republican lawmakers who voted for the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare: If you are attacked for undermining protections for people with existing health problems, jab back by saying the claim got Four Pinocchios from The Washington Post.
That’s not true. Republicans are twisting an unrelated fact check and are misleading voters. We have found at least seven politicians who have done this.
Rep. Peter J. Roskam (Illinois’s 6th District): In a debate on Oct. 22, he said: “Sean [Casten] has falsely accused me of being against protecting people with preexisting conditions and that was fact-checked by The Washington Post, who gave that four Pinocchios.” …
In sum, the first six lawmakers are referring to a fact check that: a) focused on how many people had preexisting conditions, not whether the bill harmed them; b) was published before the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office issued a critical report about the possible impact on people with preexisting conditions if the bill they supported had become law.
Several lawmakers referred to a sentence in the AHCA. Rep. Davis even misquotes it as: “Nothing in this bill shall allow insurance companies to deny anyone coverage for preexisting conditions.”
Actually, the sentence said: “Nothing in this Act shall be construed as permitting health insurance issuers to limit access to health coverage for individuals with preexisting conditions.”
This sentence was mostly a public-relations exercise, but notice the difference? It says “limit access to health coverage,” not “deny coverage” as Davis claimed. Everyone has “access” to buying a Tesla, but it makes a difference whether you can afford to buy it.
If the Republicans consider it important to subvert the message of the fact-checkers, it must mean the fact-checkers really are having an impact. Then throw in a misquote and the third-raters from the GOP just look awful.
Know hope. Even if I don’t.
