TV ad claims it has ‘the facts’ on Bill Nelson, then unrolls falsehoods

A new ad attacks Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., on the health care law and claims to have “the facts.” Then it trots out a series of distortions.

“Florida patients and seniors deserve to know what are the facts about President Barack Obama’s health care law,” the ad says. “Fact: Bill Nelson was the deciding vote. The bill could cost up to $2 trillion, double what we were promised. Nelson’s health care vote imposes the largest tax increase in history on the middle class, cuts $500 billion from Medicare to pay for new government programs, and millions could lose their current coverage. Tell Bill Nelson: Protect Florida patients, repeal the health care law.”

The ad is from an outside spending group called American Commitment, which says on its website that it supports “free markets, economic growth, constitutionally limited government, property rights, and individual freedom.” It’s a 501(c)4, so it doesn’t have to disclose its donors.

We fact-checked several of the ad’s claims. 

We examined the claim that the law “could cost up to $2 trillion, double what we were promised.” That’s False.

We looked at whether Nelson was the deciding vote on health care. We rated that Mostly False. We checked whether the law “imposes the largest tax increase in history on the middle class.” That claim was so off we rated it Pants on Fire.

Previously, we’ve also looked at claims from others about cutting $500 billion from Medicare and found it Mostly False. We also looked at the claims that millions would lose coverage and rated that False.