Obama’s False Statistical Start
EmailABC News’ Rick Klein reports: President Obama is set to lead off his presentation on healthcare this afternoon with a startling statistic: “The cost of health care now causes a bankruptcy in America every thirty seconds,” the president plans to say, according to prepared remarks released by the White House. But even before those words cross his lips, the factoid is getting knocked down. ABC News’ Polling Director Gary Langer writes: “The problem: That claim, based on a 2001 survey, is simply unsupportable.” “The figure comes from a 2005 Harvard University study saying that 54 percent of bankruptcies in 2001 were caused by health expenses. We reviewed it internally and knocked it down at the time; an academic reviewer did the same in 2006. Recalculating Harvard’s own data, he came up with a far lower figure — 17 percent.” Even if the Harvard report was perfect, the statement would still be wildly inflated. FactCheck.org vetted the tidbit when it appeared in the president’s address to Congress last week, and found the following: “Data from the U.S. Courts show about 934,000 personal bankruptcies in the 12-month period ending June 2008. There are about 32 million seconds in a year. So someone filed for bankruptcy roughly every 30 seconds last year. But even a very high estimate, like the Harvard study we looked at last year, would only attribute half of those personal bankruptcies to medical expenses. So that’s one health-related bankruptcy every minute at most.” For another guesstimate as to what the figure may actually be, the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Health Tracking Poll found that 1 percent of Americans reported they had declared bankruptcy “in the past twelve months . . . because of medical bills.” UPDATE: The president delivered the line as prepared as the healthcare forum got underway at the White House.
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Obama = Liar
48% of us knew that, but thanks. I bet liberals will still live in denial.
Cue their hatred in 3…2…1…
Posted by: Trace | March 5, 2009, 12:39 pm 12:39 pm
Obama used fear tactics to ram the stimulus bill through congress so let’s use what worked before to ram a healthcare bill through.
Posted by: buckaroobonsai | March 5, 2009, 12:47 pm 12:47 pm
Obama lied…the economy died…
Posted by: MNResident | March 5, 2009, 12:48 pm 12:48 pm
One bankruptcy due to medical bills is one too many. What a shameful reflection on our country that its citizens can’t afford to be healthy.
Posted by: hang | March 5, 2009, 12:51 pm 12:51 pm
So, you’re telling me every three minutes, an American declares bankruptcy as the result of overwhelming medical bills? Whew! Here I thought it was every 30 seconds. Oh, that makes it so less important to cover people.
Posted by: Amy in Maine | March 5, 2009, 12:55 pm 12:55 pm
Regardless If President Obama Has the Numbers wrong or right, The Point is it is Sad that People in this Country Lose Everything And have to Go Bankrupt because they or a Family Member is SICK What a Shame!
Posted by: Angie in PA | March 5, 2009, 1:05 pm 1:05 pm
Having worked in a law office that handled many bankruptcies, I can tell you people file for bankruptcy over very small amounts. I wanted to shake them and tell them to relax, but when collections agents hounded them day and night, they saw bankruptcy as their only option. Donald Trump says something to the effect that if you’re going under, GO UNDER BIG. Good advice.
Posted by: Kitty | March 5, 2009, 1:06 pm 1:06 pm
Plenty of presidents and politicians have made these innocuous rhetorical slips. They’re easy to do and relatively harmless.
Give Obama a break – this isn’t the Drudge Report…
http://www.political-buzz.com/
Posted by: matt | March 5, 2009, 1:07 pm 1:07 pm
I thought the reason liberals wanted to impeach Bush was because he lied about Iraq. So when does the “Impeach Obama” movement begin? Oh, that’s right, it is all right to lie about important things like federalizing national health care but not about that trivial little protecting the nation thing.
Posted by: Don | March 5, 2009, 1:07 pm 1:07 pm
Uggghhh…If President Bush had made such an erroneous overstatement of fact, he would have been skewered. I, for one, can’t wait to see how the press handles this one.
Posted by: NPage | March 5, 2009, 1:09 pm 1:09 pm
Angie, it is very sad. It’s also sad that people who take care of themselves have to lower their standard of living to pay for the medical care of others who chose to supersize stuff. I’m for accoutablity. For instance, if you are getting hip replacement surgery, you should have to be a healthy weight. It makes no sense to replace a hip in someone who then shoves food down their throat to “celebrate” the successful surgery.
Posted by: Kitty | March 5, 2009, 1:12 pm 1:12 pm
Matt, it is one thing to misspeak it is another to mislead. Obama is doing the latter. And I don’t recall anywhere in this article where the Drudge Report was quoted so you are right, this information is coming via ABC News!
Posted by: Don | March 5, 2009, 1:14 pm 1:14 pm
The Obama Daily Tracking Poll is down 223 points and falling.
Posted by: Justin | March 5, 2009, 1:15 pm 1:15 pm
DON
Obamas Is not KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE
Posted by: Angie in PA | March 5, 2009, 1:16 pm 1:16 pm
Kitty
What about Cancer? Chemo is Very Expensive what about Lukeima or other Ilnesses Medications are very Expensive,I pray you stay Healthy Kitty and not find yourself In some situations With Healthcare! GOD BLESS!
Posted by: Angie in PA | March 5, 2009, 1:18 pm 1:18 pm
Isnt he supposed to be smart?
Posted by: JULIE | March 5, 2009, 1:25 pm 1:25 pm
Yeah, we are constantly told how great he is because he graduated from college. And not just any liberal college, but one of the elites.
Posted by: Kate | March 5, 2009, 1:28 pm 1:28 pm
Angie, is every President who ever ordered military action to be vilified because innocents are killed? I only bring it up because Wilson ordered us into WWI, Roosevelt ordered us into World War II and Kennedy/Johnson ordered us into VietNam. And if you want to be precise, as Commander in Chief, Obama’s decision not to immediately recall every American soldier DOES make him responsible for every innocent person killed from inauguration day forward.
Posted by: Don | March 5, 2009, 1:31 pm 1:31 pm
Getting back to issue, evaluate Obama on health care as opposed to Bush on terror using the following edited quote:
“Regardless If President ‘Bush’ Has the ‘facts’ wrong or right, The Point is it is Sad that People in this Country Lose ‘their lives’ And have to ‘Die’ because they or a Family Member is ‘killed by a terrorist.’ What a Shame!”
If you came to reject Bush because of logic like that then BE CONSISTENT and oppose what Obama is trying to do!
Posted by: Don | March 5, 2009, 1:46 pm 1:46 pm
Obama got the number wrong, and he didn’t need to. The true number of one every 3 minutes is just as compelling. He needs to whack his fact checker – this was a stupid mistake to make.
Posted by: jhw539 | March 5, 2009, 1:48 pm 1:48 pm
NPage:”If President Bush had made such an erroneous overstatement of fact, he would have been skewered.”
Do you have complete amnesia? Bush was treated with kid gloves over his numerous errors. Don’t you remember the fawning, completely non critical media, run up to Iraq at all? Even more recently, McCain was given a pass on things like not knowing what countries bordered Iraq or needing Lieberman to give him quick corrections on what terrorists are really allied with Iran.
The ‘we’re persecuted by the liberal media!!!’ whine is not just getting old, it’s starting to make Republicans look stupid.
Posted by: jhw539 | March 5, 2009, 1:51 pm 1:51 pm
so hes 30 seconds off i.e. a bankruptcy due to medical bills every 60 seconds vs every 30 seconds.
this is called “splitting hairs” and it lets the actual problem go unsolved or the question go unanswered because of some utterly silly and nonsensical “point”.
so its 30 seconds instead of a minute…wow i feel so much more relieved now ,thanks naysayers/whiners…
Posted by: ....shakes head... | March 5, 2009, 1:52 pm 1:52 pm
Don:”I thought the reason liberals wanted to impeach Bush was because he lied about Iraq.”
Reality: Nancy Pelosi, July 2008 regarding impeaching Bush:”If somebody had a crime that the president had committed, that would be a different story … [You can't impeach] unless you have the goods that this president committed these crimes.”
I guess she’s not a liberal, right? Glad we have that cleared up.
Posted by: jhw539 | March 5, 2009, 1:54 pm 1:54 pm
I’m sorry, where did you get the 1 in 3 number? According to the article the Harvard number was 17% and the Kaiser number was 1% of personal bankruptcies. He won’t what his fact checker because this wasn’t a stupid mistake. He said what he meant and he meant what he said.
Posted by: Don | March 5, 2009, 1:55 pm 1:55 pm
does that kaiser whatever poll have anything to do with the kaiserpermanente (the health care company)
i bet it does…
DOH!
Posted by: ROFL! | March 5, 2009, 1:55 pm 1:55 pm
COMRADE ABC you will be punished for saying such lies.. Comrade Obama, has already developed plans to destroy CNBC cause they dare speak against the GREAT LEADER.. might you be next?
Posted by: bawl knee phwank | March 5, 2009, 1:59 pm 1:59 pm
Don:”According to the article the Harvard number was 17% and the Kaiser number was 1% of personal bankruptcies. He won’t what his fact checker because this wasn’t a stupid mistake. He said what he meant and he meant what he said.”
The Kaiser study “found that 1 percent OF AMERICANS reported they had declared bankruptcy.” You are off by over an order of magnitude when you said “1% of personal bankruptcies” (not every American goes bankrupt every year you know).
Shall I assume you said what you mean and meant what you said (ie, you were deliberately and pretty blatantly lying to mislead)?
Posted by: jhw539 | March 5, 2009, 2:00 pm 2:00 pm
Obama has caused the bankrupting of AMERICA!!
Posted by: thecurseofobama | March 5, 2009, 2:03 pm 2:03 pm
jhw539, I’m not sure I get your point. But if you are saying my comments overstated the number of personal bankruptcies by an order of magnitude then I welcome the correction. It diminishes the “there are lots of bankruptcies so we need national health care” argument. Even if Obama’s numbers were correct, preventing bankruptcies is not the job of the federal government. And if your point is to run me through with the sword of misleading, then please use the same sword on Obama’s plan.
Posted by: Don | March 5, 2009, 3:37 pm 3:37 pm
…but the bankruptcy court here is open 8:30-4:30 monday to friday.
Posted by: dix | March 5, 2009, 6:05 pm 6:05 pm
… that’s about 7.5 millon seconds a year …
Posted by: dix | March 5, 2009, 6:24 pm 6:24 pm
Too bad no one thought to check out the former administration on their facts. Perhaps we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in now. I don’t have much faith in the Kaiser poll….in fact I don’t even know who they are. I think people need to give President Obama a fair chance to show what he can do. He hasn’t even been in office 3 months and I believe that the former administration has 8 years! Give the man a decent chance.
Posted by: Elle Jordan | March 5, 2009, 7:51 pm 7:51 pm
Kitty: I had my hip replaced because I could barely walk. Because I could barely walk I could not exercise. Because I could not exercise I began to gain weight on 1800 calories a day. Sometimes the answer is not as simplistic as you might want it to be. I did have insurance and the procedure was covered except for $1800.00 which I am still paying off. I shudder to think about what I’d have done without insurance.
Posted by: George | March 5, 2009, 10:53 pm 10:53 pm