MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Former President Bill Clinton’s exhaustive defense of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act garnered quite a reaction from Democrats attending the party’s convention this week, but the surprise reaction came from independent fact-checkers who dubbed the speech a win for accuracy in political rhetoric.
Clinton’s 48-minute speech held up to scrutiny, with fact-checking organizations finding few areas of concern. The most frequent point of contention was a vague implication that the Affordable Care Act may be related to the slowed inflation in healthcare costs, which economists attribute more to the economy than to healthcare reform measures, Healthwatch reported.
Clinton also mistakenly attributed ⅔ of Medicaid spending to nursing home care for so-called "dual eligible" seniors who collect entitlements from both Medicare and Medicaid. Clinton’s prepared remarks contained the correct data, that nearly ⅔ of Medicaid spending goes toward nursing home care for seniors as well as for people with disabilities.
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