The Washington Post's Latest Fact Check of Bernie Sanders Is Really Something

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

Sanders’s team told the Post that the Vermont Senator was relying on an estimate published in a medical journal that found that 66.5% of bankruptcy filers cited either medical bills or missed work due to illness as a reason they went broke. The journal itself said this was “equivalent to about 530,000 medical bankruptcies annually.”

At first glance, it appears Bernie understated the problem by rounding down. The checker did an admirable thing and reached out to the author of the study, Dr. David Himmelstein, a professor of public health in the CUNY system and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School. “When we asked Himmelstein whether Sanders was quoting his study accurately,” the fact checker reports, “he said yes.”

Himmelstein went on to unpack for the fact checker that, even if you were to adopt a more limited measure of bankruptcies that were “very much” linked to medical debt, the number of people going broke is still north of 500,000 a year, because a single bankruptcy typically affects multiple people in a family unit. “Even if you use that restricted definition, then Sanders’s statement is accurate — or an underestimate,” Himmelstein said.

(snip)

Subjecting political speechmaking to this kind of nitpick is folly. The entire nature of the political enterprise is looser than that. Politicians speak to broad systemic problems. If they’re sharp and persuasive, they have statistics at hand. And if their staff is any good, those statistics have reputable studies to back them up. By any meaningful measure what Sanders said is accurate for the purposes of the project. If citing a study accurately enough to satisfy its author still gets a “mostly false,” it’s hard to know what could possibly pass muster.

(snip)

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/bernie-sanders-medical-bankruptcy-washington-post-fact-check-878120/

[George II]

1. This is what he said:

"500,000 Americans will go bankrupt this year from medical bills.." The Washington Post called this statement "mostly false". This Rolling Stone article is merely spinning that statement and redefining what BS said, making it "accurate for the purposes of the project."

Again, "500,000 Americans will go bankrupt this year from medical bills.." is simply not true. In fiscal 2017 (ending June 30 2017) there were 796,000 bankruptcies filed (actually down almost 10% from the previous year). It's inconceivable that 63% of those were due to medical bills.

[comradebillyboy]

2. Well researched and accurate reporting is not the hallmark of

Rolling Stone. Given their embarrassing history over the last few years I don't understand why anyone would take them seriously.

[Turin_C3PO]

8. Rolling Stone is good, generally.

They’re consistently on the side of progressives against our current epidemic of conservaNazis.

[jg10003]

9. in 2000 Rolling Stone was one of the few outlets that defended Gore

Against the media's hit job on him.

[comradebillyboy]

11. They were good in the 70s as well back when

Hunter S Thompson reported on the 972 election. Today they aren't so great. I don't think Matt Taibbi has improved Rolling Stone at all.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Actually, that's an understatement from Bernie, he said Americans not families.

Last edited Thu Aug 29, 2019, 03:00 PM - Edit history (1)

And what did CNBC say on the subject?

This is the real reason most Americans file for bankruptcy

(snip)

A new study from academic researchers found that 66.5 percent of all bankruptcies were tied to medical issues —either because of high costs for care or time out of work. An estimated 530,000 families turn to bankruptcy each year because of medical issues and bills, the research found.

(snip)

The number of debtors who cited medical issues as a contributing reason for their bankruptcy actually increased slightly after the law’s implementation — 67.5 percent in the three years following the law’s adoption versus 65.5 percent prior.

The culprit for the lack of improvement was inadequate health-care insurance, according to a co-author of the research, Dr. David U. Himmelstein, a distinguished professor at Hunter College and founder of advocacy group Physicians for a National Health Program.

“Unless you’re Jeff Bezos, people don’t have very good alternatives, because the insurance that is available and affordable to people, or that most people’s employers provide them, is not adequate protection if you’re sick,” Himmelstein said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/this-is-the-real-reason-most-americans-file-for-bankruptcy.html

If you don't like CNBC, I will find other sources for you?

[NatasL]

12. nothing but the facts

Actually according to the AJPH, 66.5% do claim bankruptcy due to either medical bills or missed work due to illness. Both of these would be considered "Medical bankruptcy". There is no "spinning" going on here. Sanders is factually correct.

[radical noodle]

14. Keep in mind that a lot of states didn't adopt the

plan so there are tons of lower-income folks who just can't afford it. An example: Indiana didn't adopt the ACA, and at that time my daughter was unemployed, looking for a teaching job. The cost of health insurance for her through the ACA was very high because there was no subsidy for her. If she had had medical issues during that time, she wouldn't have had any coverage at all.

[gopiscrap]

16. welcome to DU

[Eliot Rosewater]

13. I am less interested in debating these figures, because bankruptcy or economic hardship from

not having a single payer system is a very serious and real problem, as I am more interested in electing someone with a track record of bipartisan support and the ability to not only write laws but get them passed.

So I hope we nominate someone who either has a track record of being successful in that way OR someone who is yet to prove themselves but at least SEEMS to have such qualifications.

[LanternWaste]

4. I get it if you guys need to hold him to a lower standard.

"Subjecting political speechmaking to this kind of nitpick is folly. The entire nature of the political enterprise is looser than that..."

Gotta reject that premise. We hold Trump to what he says. We hold each and every Democratic candidate to what they say (to the point when an obvious mistake-in-haste becomes a pretense for alleged 'concern').

I'll hold BS to what he says as well... I don't perceive him as a sacred cow to whom to the rules of speaking no longer apply. But I get it if you guys need to hold him to a lower standard.

[ProfessorPlum]

7. not a lower standard

a correct standard.

Do you think that what Sanders said earned 3 out of 4 Pinocchios?

[aidbo]

5. Thanks for posting this, Joe.

Link to tweet

[Uncle Joe]

6. Thanks for the addition aidbo.

[HeartlandProgressive]

15. +100

[Duppers]

10. K & R