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 a 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 veteran editors who debate the statement and the reporter’s recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling. The panel votes on a final ruling; majority prevails.
PolitiFact Georgia kept tabs last week on candidate qualifying, the state Legislature and even a comedic appearance by President Barack Obama.
We looked at a claim by state Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, that children who suffer from seizures are faring remarkably well in Colorado by using medical marijuana.
Congressman Paul Broun’s camp was asked to defend claims the wannabe U.S. senator’s health care proposal will abolish Obamacare and eliminate federal government intrusion.
President Barack Obama appeared on comedian Zach Galifianakis’ faux-interview show “Between Two Ferns,” and the two set social media ablaze. But it wasn’t all laughs. The president made comments that earned him a spin on the Truth-O-Meter on what else but … you guessed it, health insurance.
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State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon: Every child in Colorado who has been given medical marijuana as treatment for seizures has had diminished seizure activity.
Georgia lawmakers have been debating whether to allow the use of a form of medical marijuana to treat certain types of seizures. The bill’s primary sponsor, Peake, offered what appeared to be a persuasive case. “(In Colorado), 100 percent of children have seen diminished seizure activity,” Peake said before his bill passed the House.
Peake said he was persuaded to introduce medical marijuana legislation after meeting 4-year-old Haleigh Cox, who suffers from a severe seizure disorder and lives in his area.
Peake said he received his information from the Realm of Caring Foundation, a Colorado-based organization that has attempted to provide care to patients suffering from cancer, AIDS, Parkinson’s disease and other conditions through the use of medicinal cannabis oil. He later clarified his statement, saying that it was actually 98 percent of patients who had seen diminished seizure activity.
Heather Jackson, the executive director of Realm of Caring, said Peake was correct that every patient studied in the first set of tests, “harvests” is the term she used, had a reduction in seizures. The Realm of Caring is in its second harvest and has seen less than a handful of nonresponders, which accounts for Peake’s revised 98 percent total.
The New York Times, though, reported in December that there is “scattered medical research” to substantiate claims cannabis oils helped reduce seizures, citing a 2012 study on the American Epilepsy Society’s website. Other researchers have also cautioned there is not enough research on its medicinal benefits.
Peake’s claim is partially accurate. But it needs a lot of context to be fully understood.
We rated his statement Half True.
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President Barack Obama: “Most young Americans right now, they’re not covered” by health insurance.
The appearance by Obama on comedian Zach Galifianakis’ faux-interview show “Between Two Ferns” set social media ablaze.
Like many Americans, we watched the video and thought it was pretty funny. Most of the exchanges between Obama and Galifianakis were clearly intended to be jokes — nothing checkable there.
But we did find one snippet to put to the Truth-O-Meter — when Obama said that “most young Americans” are not covered by health insurance. We turned to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. We found an age breakdown for Americans who were not covered by health insurance at any time in 2012. Among people age 18 to 24, it was 25.3 percent. And among those 25 to 34, it was 27.4 percent.
These percentages are very similar to those found in the most recently released Gallup poll — 23 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds are uninsured, and a little less than 27 percent of those are age 26 to 34. (The White House did not offer any additional data when we asked.)
What Obama said is “absolutely inaccurate,” said Gail Wilensky, who headed Medicare and Medicaid under President George H.W. Bush. Wilensky said young people are statistically more likely to be uninsured than either children or middle-age Americans are, but she added that most are, in fact, insured.
We rated Obama’s claim False.
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U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, R-Athens: “Of all of the Republican plans out there, [mine] is the only one that completely repeals Obamacare. It takes the federal bureaucrat out of decisions for you.”
Broun, a doctor, has been telling anyone who’ll listen that he has the elixir to improve the nation’s health care system.
“Dr. Broun’s Patient OPTION Act (HR 2900) is the only healthcare alternative plan that repeals Obamacare in full and removes bureaucrats from one’s personal healthcare decisions,” Broun spokeswoman Christine Hardman said in one email.
Hardman gave us examples to support Broun’s claim. They included:
- HR 2900 does not require the secretary of health and human Services (or anyone else at the federal level) to administer health plans put together by associations. All the other bills give the secretary this power, she said.
- Broun's team says his bill does not place judicial mandates on the states while the other bills have high federal involvement.
- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is phased out in Broun's plan.
We found several other bills by GOP congressmen that call for the repeal of Obamacare.
Broun’s bill raises another question. His legislation would transfer CMS’ duties to a part of the U.S. Treasury Department. Isn’t that still part of the federal bureaucracy?
PolitiFact Georgia raised that question and others to Hardman. She said there would be fewer federal people involved on the administrative level.
Broun’s bill would make Obamacare disappear. But so would other GOP proposals. And Broun’s plan does not make the bureaucracy go away.
We rated Broun’s statement Mostly False.
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