How does PolitiFact Georgia’s Truth-O-Meter work?
Our goal is to help you find the truth in American politics. Reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution fact-check statements by local, state and national political leaders, including lobbyists and interest groups. We then rate them on the AJC Truth-O-Meter.
To fact-check the claim, reporters first contact the speaker to verify the statement. Next, the research begins. Reporters consult a variety of sources, including industry and academic experts. This research can take hours or a few days or even longer, depending on the claim. Reporters then compile the research into story form and include a recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling.
The fact check then moves on to a panel of editors who debate the statement and the reporter’s recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling. The panel votes on a final ruling; majority prevails.
It was hard to avoid the controversy over Obamacare last week.
And PolitiFact and PolitiFact Georgia waded straight into the fray with fact checks on the key players.
Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below.
Full versions can be found at: www.politifact.com/georgia/.
To comment on our rulings or suggest one of your own, go to our Facebook page (
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Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius: “If I have affordable coverage in my workplace, I’m not eligible to go into the marketplace. … It’s illegal.”
Sebelius testified before Congress on Oct. 30.
Sebelius had a testy exchange with Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., who asked the secretary why she wasn’t enrolling in the exchanges herself.
“If I have affordable coverage in my workplace, I’m not eligible to go into the marketplace. … It’s illegal,” she said.
Sebelius was wrong when she said “it’s illegal” for her to buy insurance on the exchange because she already has affordable insurance through her employer.
Those inclined to do so certainly can.
We rate Sebelius’ statement Pants On Fire.
President Barack Obama: “What we said was, you can keep (your plan) if it hasn’t changed since the law passed.”
Obama’s attempt at explanation has only fanned the flames of controversy over his campaign line, “If you like your health care, you can keep it.
Obama’s speech Monday at a meeting of Organizing for Action, his campaign organization, seemed to offer a new, and confusing, wrinkle.
“Now, if you have or had one of these plans before the Affordable Care Act came into law and you really liked that plan, what we said was you can keep it if it hasn’t changed since the law passed,” Obama said.
But PolitiFact found at least 37 times since Obama’s inauguration in 2008 where he or a top administration official made a variation of the pledge that if you like your plan, you can keep it. We never found an instance in which he offered the caveat that it only applies to plans that hadn’t changed after the law’s passage.
We rate Obama’s statement Pants On Fire.
Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown: The federal health care law raises taxes and cuts Medicare.
Brown, now a commentator, dredged up some old claims about the Affordable Care Act to add to the ongoing criticism during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”
Brown was a Massachusetts state senator when then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed what would become the blueprint for Obamacare, and he compared his own state’s effort with the federal law.
“When the president was in Boston, it made my blood boil,” Brown said. “I worked on the
Massachusetts plan. It didn’t raise taxes or cut Medicare, and this one does.”
Obamacare definitely raises taxes.
As to whether it cuts Medicare, that’s a more complicated picture. The standard benefits for people on Medicare were largely left intact. The law does try to prod the health care industry and insurers who are part of Medicare to operate with more efficiency.
We rate Brown’s statement Mostly True.
U.S. Senate candidate Branko Radulovacki in an Oct. 14 campaign email: I am the only U.S. Senate candidate who spoke out against bombing Syria and who challenged Georgia’s governor and insurance commissioner over obstruction to the Affordable Care Act.
Georgia’s U.S. Senate race is getting crowded.
One candidate, Branko Radulovacki, a Democrat and Atlanta psychiatrist, is doing his best to emerge from the fray.
Dr. Rad — as he prefers to be called — recently sent one campaign email that included several “only” statements.
“I’m the only one who spoke out against bombing Syria. And the only one who took on Governor Deal and Insurance Commissioner Hudgens over their efforts to ‘obstruct’ the Affordable Care Act in Georgia.”
But our research showed other candidates have also covered that ground.
When contacted, Radulovacki admitted that the campaign email was incorrect. He promised to correct the error. Corrections are always a good thing.
But on the initial claim, the doctor gets a False.
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