Time for a fact check on Obamacare letter

You don't need to be a partisan to point out the immense factual errors in Larry Hoehne's Dec. 22 letter titled, “Schneider shows true colors over Obamacare.” So readers are not misinformed, I am going to point them out.

“Due to rising health care costs for employees, employers have scaled back hiring, which is contributing to higher unemployment.” Wrong. Unemployment is at the lowest point in five years with a rate of 7 percent. Twenty-seven states are at their lowest rates in four years.

“Due to higher insurance premiums and deductibles, consumers are cutting back on spending, which is causing a drag on the economy.” Wrong. Consumer spending is at its best rate since February 2012 and personal income is also increasing.

“Doctors aren't going to get paid as much, so they are leaving the general practice area.” Completely wrong. Doctors are still getting paid plenty, some of the highest in the world. There is no factual evidence linking Obamacare to doctor's leaving the practice — only threats of leaving, dated back to 2008.

“People are having their insurance coverage canceled and they can't get access to new insurance due to the incompetence of the people implementing the Healthcare.gov website.” Mostly wrong. Some coverage is getting canceled, yes, but over 1 million people have enrolled for insurance via the website.

The rest is not worth debate. Perhaps fact-checking your bias, Mr. Hoehne, could help your arguments in the future.

Matthew Kwiecinski

Gurnee