In fact-checking six statements made during the Democratic National Convention, we found that claims about women’s miscarriages, repealing the Affordable Care Act and “slashing” Medicare were not accurate, while claims about job gains, record levels of health insurance coverage and former President Donald Trump’s history as a landlord were on target.
Here’s a rundown of those fact checks at the DNC, held Aug. 19-22, 2024, in Chicago.
No, Trump has not said he plans to force states to report miscarriages.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, said Trump “plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator and force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions.”
The Project 2025 policy initiative, led by the conservative Heritage Foundation, calls for the federal Health and Human Services Department to “ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place” and “ensure that statistics are separated by category,” including spontaneous miscarriage.
At least 140 people who worked in Trump’s administration contributed to the policy book, CNN reported.
Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025.
Yes, Trump was ordered as a result of a federal lawsuit not to discriminate in housing.
A settlement to a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit filed in 1973 against Trump over his New York City apartments, alleging he discriminated against Black people, required him not to discriminate in housing and to take steps such as advertising his apartment vacancies to minority residents. The department called the decree “one of the most far-reaching ever negotiated.”
No, Project 2025 does not call for repealing the Affordable Care Act
Campaigning in Milwaukee in connection with the convention, vice presidential nominee Tim Walz claimed it does.
Project 2025 is a conservative policy plan. On the Affordable Care Act, it calls for changes such as separating the subsidized and unsubsidized health insurance markets, saying that would make coverage more affordable in the nonsubsidized market. Physicians for a National Health Program, which advocates for universal health care, says the change would eliminate certain patient protections.
Former President Bill Clinton’s claim about net jobs, taking into account gains and losses, was accurate.
Reporting on the discrepancy between Democratic and Republican presidents, The Economist said: “Many things feed into growth trends that have only a scant connection to whoever is living in the White House — from the business cycle to tech innovations and Federal Reserve decisions to the global economy.”
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department reported that the uninsured rate for U.S. residents reached an all-time low of 7.2% in the second quarter of 2023. The figure increased to 8.2% in the first quarter of 2024. According to the health policy organization KFF, the number of nonelderly uninsured individuals (25.6 million) and their uninsured rate (9.6%) reached record lows in 2022.
No, Trump is not “threatening to slash Medicare”
Trump has repeatedly said during his 2024 presidential campaign that he would not cut Medicare, the health insurance program mainly for people age 65 and over, despite a claim by Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez.
As president, Trump made proposals to reduce Medicare spending.
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