MANY CLAIMS HAVE been heard regarding health care reform, some of them awfully scary. Death panels? Health care rationing? Killing small businesses? It isn’t easy to separate truth from fiction — and there is a lot of fiction out there.
Two Web sites can help.
www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck is the White House Web site that explains what is actually in the bill, as opposed to what many talk radio shows and unsolicited emails are spreading around. Admittedly, the White House is not going to make its own health care reform plan sound bad. But they aren’t simply making up claims about what is in the bill, like so many others. Everything on this site is based on what has actually been proposed.
For a totally unbiased look at some of the more outrageous claims, visit the Truth-o-Meter Web site run by the St. Petersburg Times. The Truth-o-Meter was created so journalists could research claims being made by politicians of all stripes and determine how true they are. It covers more than just health care reform, but lately that has been the main topic.
Visit www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/rulings/pants-fire/ to see what they have to say about the topics that those angry mobs have been bringing up at Town Hall meetings. They reserved their “Pants on Fire!” rating for the most outrageous falsehoods. Who has earned a place in this least-coveted category? Sarah Palin (Death Panels), Chain e-mail (Health Care Commissioner will decide benefits), Glenn Beck (forced abortions), and even Investor’s Business Daily (Obama’s bill outlaws private insurance).
Backtrack to their front page www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ to get the latest verdicts on other claims being made in the media on a variety of topics. But don’t expect anyone to come away perfectly clean. This site is looking for total honesty, and it is a rare person who never fudges a little bit just to make a point.
