“If you like your plan, you can keep your plan” is Politifact’s 2013 “Lie of the Year.” That’s interesting, especially because Politifact previously rated this promise as “true” (when made during the 2008 campaign) and “half-true” (when made in 2009), and claimed challenges to this pledge in 2012 were “false” (here and here). Now, of course, we know that the initial promise was false — and that the White House knew this was the case even as Administration officials (and Politifact) were claiming otherwise. Only in 2013 did Politifact finally acknowledge the “pants on fire” aspect of the Administration’s pledge (here and here). If a statement Politifact rated as partially true could nonetheless be the “Lie of the Year,” perhaps Politifact needs to reconsider its standards for fact-checking.
Meanwhile, the Administration is once again delaying some of the statute’s implementation deadlines, and “urging” insurers to provide retroactive coverage to individuals who enroll in, but fail to pay for, insurance coverage beginning January 1.