Members of both parties have received and answered plenty of letters from their constituents about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and other aspects of healthcare policy. According to a fact check from ProPublica, neither side can claim it has always been truthful to the people it represents.
The article review more than 200 such letters and found a “wealth of misinformation.” For example, Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, R-Tennessee, said the ACA “allows a presidentially handpicked ‘Health Choices Commissioner’ to determine what coverage and treatments are available to you,” but no such position exists under the law.
On the Democratic side, the misleading or false statements tended to revolve around inflating the benefits of the ACA or the negative impact of its Republican-sponsored replacement, the American Health Care Act (AHCA).
“Trumpcare… slashes Medicaid benefits for nursing home care that two out of three Americans in nursing homes rely on,” wrote Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, even though the AHCA contains no direct cuts on Medicaid coverage for nursing homes.
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John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.