Nearly three days later, Jake Tapper admits CNN "fact check" on Medicare for All was, uh, not factual

After nearly three days of constant pressure, clear explanations of basic facts, and bit of healthy shaming, CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday finally relented to the sheer force of the evidence and admitted that his Medicare for All "fact check"—which aimed to discredit Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) claim that a Koch brothers-funded study showed single-payer would save Americans $2 trillion—was horribly misleading and is in need of a substantial "redo."

The central falsehood of Tapper's video segment, which he has now promised to correct, was his conflation of the American people and the U.S. government.

Sanders, New York congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and several policy analysts have pointed out that—according to the Koch-funded Mercatus Center study, authored by Chuck Blahous—the American public would save $2 trillion on healthcare under Sanders' Medicare for All plan.

Apparently confused by the difference, Tapper declared in his segment: "Is that true? Did a study funded by the Koch brothers indicate that Medicare for All would actually save the U.S. government [emphasis added] trillions of dollars? No."

Numerous commentators proceeded to point out the error: “Jake, you cannot claim that Bernie said "the government" would save $2 trillion. He did not say that, instead he said americans would over all save $2 trillion. Look at the video clip of Bernie again. This is undeniably a false representation of Bernie's claim. Straight up.”

While Tapper's concession on Sunday that these criticisms of his segment are "totally valid" was welcomed, several observers noted that his fundamentally incorrect video has already reached a large audience and argued that Tapper must issue a full correction and broadcast an entirely new segment.

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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/20/nearly-three-days-later-jake-tapper-admits-cnn-fact-check-medicare-all-was-uh-not