Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Nov. 6 WorldNetDaily article by Bob Unruh is little more than a rewrite of a press release from Republican Rep. Dave Camp claimin g that "the House Democrats' health-care bill could impose penalties of up to $250,000 in fines and five years in jail for failing to buy the proper insurance coverage."
Unruh uncritically repeats claims from Camp's press release without any indicated attempt to fact-check or obtain any response to the claims -- even Camp's assertion that the Joint Committee on Taxation is "non-partisan." In fact, it's bipartisan, given that it's operated by 10 members of Congress. Unruh also lets Camp's whoppers stand uncorrected, such as his assertion that "the jail time provision is a threat to every family who cannot afford the $15,000 premium her plan creates" and that "the lowest cost family non-group plan under Pelosi's health-care plan would cost $15,000 in 2016."
In fact, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office details, the only people who would face a fine for not purchasing insurance are those who can truly afford to purchase such insurance, and it would only be in extremely rare circumstances that criminal prosecutions of any kind would be pursued, as is the case with tax fraud.
Further, the $15,000 figure is misleading because it ignores the fact that premiums for most people will be subsidized to some extent, and only those families with income of more than $102,000 would face paying the full $15,000.
But Unruh has a political agenda to push, and that's more important to him -- and to WND -- than the truth.
