Issue #253
LIAR: Rand Paul says 40 times more Kentuckians have had health insurance canceled than have signed up for Obamacare
A reader sent us a newsletter to constituents released by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a critic of the law and a potential presidential candidate in 2016. The claim that leapt out at us was, “For every Kentuckian that has enrolled in Obamacare, 40 have been dropped from their coverage.” Could that really be true? We took a look at the data. Paul said that “for every Kentuckian that has enrolled in Obamacare, 40 have been dropped from their coverage.” That’s not mathematically possible. If you take the narrowest definition of “sign-ups,” there would have to be 3.3 million cancellations in the state for Paul’s statement to be accurate—and there aren’t even that many Kentuckians with private insurance plans that could theoretically be canceled. In fact, it’s reasonable to argue that more people in Kentucky have coverage through Obamacare than have been canceled. Paul’s statement is so wildly off that we rate it Pants on Fire. Tampa Bay Tribune, 5-2-14.