Elected Officials Exaggerate
by Larry Gilbert

Mission Viejo Councilman Frank Ury and President Obama used the same flawed playbook. Fudge data to support your assertions.

In Mission Viejo we had the Improve Don't Move permit waivers, where evidence confirms that residents and businesses were renovating their properties before and after this giveaway of our tax dollars happened.

Regarding his signature program of Obamacare, the president said in the State of the Union speech "nine million" [signed up for coverage]. The number is a little larger now, since the figures are a few weeks old. But there is strong new evidence to suggest the administration's claims are grossly exaggerated and deeply misleading. Obamacare is not doing nearly as well as the president wants you to believe.

First, Medicaid. This week, the health consulting firm Avalere found that only 1 million to 2 million of the 6.3 million who signed up for Medicaid were new enrollees brought into the program by Obamacare. The rest were people who were eligible and would have signed up for Medicaid irrespective of Obamacare, in addition to people who were already on Medicaid but were renewing their status. (The researchers reached their conclusion by comparing the Obamacare signups with a recent period before the new health law went into effect.)