#49) True Lies

March 23, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

There hasn't been much news coverage of your speech in Louisville Monday night.  Mostly because it was a privately funded speech and you barred many news outlets from attending (so much for a free and open society).  But the good folks at ABC News were there and boy do they have a bone to pick with you.

You said, "Many of our best and brightest are leaving the medical profession entirely because of Obamacare."  And they spotted it for the lie that it is and did some fact checking and produced a nice little article called "Trump's claim of fleeing doctors rings false."  Here are the actual facts:

-The number of doctors grew from 799,501 in 2010 (when the Affordable Care Act was signed into law) to 860,939 in 2015.  Source: Assoc. of American Medical Colleges

-Enrollment of new doctors has increased every year since 2012. Source:  American College of Physicians

-Family Practice Physicians have grown from 94,620 to 124,900 since 2008.  Source:  American Academy of Family Physicians

-"There is no evidence of a declining interest in medicine since the ACA took effect."  Dr. Atul Grover, executive vice president of the Assoc. of American Medical Colleges

So why does it matter if the president lies?  Well, mostly because people will believe you.  Most people don't have the time, energy, or even inclination to research every thing you say.  They want to trust that what you say is true because you are the President (a job usually held by a trustworthy and honest individual).  But keeping the American public ignorant of uncomfortable or inconvenient truths is in your best interest.  You lie in order to buoy up your own agenda as soon as you see that your agenda is losing support.  You lie to get what you want.  Right now you want your health care plan to pass and you want to repeal Obamacare.  So you tell lies to discredit Obamacare (and you even lie to promote your own plan but we'll save that for another letter).

The Pulitizer Prize winning website Politifact estimates that 66% of the statements that you have made as POTUS are false.  And a further 14% are only half-truths.  That is simply staggering.  I shudder to think what state our country and society will be in by the end of your 4 years as president because your dishonesty and lack of integrity brings us all down by diminishing the role of the presidency.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton