Even though the Affordable Care Act was signed into law three years ago, confusion over what it does and doesn’t do has reached a fever pitch, with both deliberate and accidental misunderstandings careening around the Internet. Fact-checking organizations are trying to keep up.
For example, the U.S. House voted to strip funding for Obamacare out of the budget on Friday -- with Florida’s Republicans voting as a bloc to do so and Democrats against -- with the Senate expected to put the funds back in this week. And then it goes back to the House, where the question has been cast as a shutdown of the government in order to stop funds to Obamacare.
And yet, as Bloomberg News reports, the vote would do no such thing. The Affordable Care Act is part of the mandatory spending -- along with Medicare and Social Security -- that continues if the government shuts off discretionary spending.
A number of other confusing matters are being sorted out by the news media:
-- The Orlando Sentineloffers an article on the basics, starting out with “What is the new federal health-insurance exchange (aka Marketplace)?”
--Another article from the Orlando Sentinel notes that more than half of the uninsured who would benefit from the law are not aware of it, according to a survey, while many others who think it applies to them are incorrect. This article includes many questions and answers from people who are employed and uninsured.
-- The Tampa Tribune reports that many veterans mistakenly think they are supposed to use the Marketplace; it offers several questions and answers.
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Bloomberg News reported that many Medicare beneficiaries mistakenly believe that their benefits are being cut or changed because of Obamacare, a mistaken belief fueled by those who are opposed to the law.
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