In a recent interview, Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., admits that while he’s a “terrible liar,” he didn’t think people really noticed as he was able to get away with lying during his 2020 congressional run.

George Santos admits he’s ‘a terrible liar’ but still thought he could get away with it | WKRC (local12.com)

GOP Rep. Andy Ogles admitted on Sunday that he never actually received a degree in “International Relations” from Middle Tennessee State University, but actually a degree in “Liberal Studies.”

Freshman Rep. Andy Ogles Admits He Didn’t Know What He Majored in (businessinsider.com)

And: Fetterman says his stroke recovery ‘changes everything’ but that he’s fit to serve as senator (nbcnews.com) (After being sworn in, he’s spent more time in hospitals than the Senate)

Why does everyone lie? Because lying works.

An estimated 40% of people lie on their resumes. Another survey says more than 50%. As a former hiring manager, I saw these lies. These included inflating GPAs (but foolishly bringing their transcript showing something different), inflating titles and responsibilities, using fictitious dates of employment to make it look like they had more experience.

They do this because – as this post notes – most people get away with lying. Our society as whole seems to think that lying is acceptable behavior. It’s not – it is a commission of fraud.

In the context of propaganda, lying is perhaps second to fear as an effective messaging strategy.

Here is an example of a profound lie that absolutely everyone believed was true – yet is easily verifiable, it is false.

Do you remember that the Affordable Care Act would prevent insurers from dropping your insurance because of a pre-existing condition? Without the ACA, anyone could lose health insurance due to a pre-existing condition (they said).

A few years ago, when some Republicans said they wanted to gut or terminate the Act, “experts” said up to half the US population might lose their insurance coverage. People with “pre-existing conditions” would be uninsurable.

Every bit of that is a lie and easily provable as a lie. Which may come as a shock when you find out how much of a lie it was and why.

Claim:

If the ACA goes away, hundreds of millions will lose insurance coverage due to pre-existing conditions. Some news articles said up to 131 million would lose coverage.

Reality:

1. The Health Insurance and Portability Act of 1996 eliminated pre-existing condition exclusions for everyone on a group (employer) insurance plan. Did you know that? I knew it because I read HIPPA. Even Chat bot knew this: “HIPAA protected workers with pre-existing conditions by eliminating “job lock”, which means that they could change jobs without losing coverage or facing a waiting period for their condition. HIPAA also limited the duration of pre-existing condition exclusions, prohibited discrimination based on health status, and guaranteed renewability of coverage”.
2. 40+% of everyone in the country is on a government program that has no exclusions (Medicare, Medicaid, VA Benefits, CHIP, Indian health service, active military, a few other programs, and government employee group insurance).Did you know that? Chat bot knew this: “According to a report by the Census Bureau, about 18.4 percent of the U.S. population was covered by Medicare and 17.8 percent by Medicaid for some or all of 2020”and
   “In general, Medicare does not have pre-existing condition exclusions. You won’t be denied Medicare coverage if you have a medical condition before you enroll1. However, some Medicare Supplement (Medigap) plans may have a pre-existing condition exclusion period of up to six months2. This means they may not pay for your medical costs related to your pre-existing condition during that time.”and
   “Medicaid does not have pre-existing condition exclusions. Medicaid cannot refuse to cover you or charge you more because of your pre-existing condition. This is also true for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)2. You can apply for Medicaid or CHIP at any time during the year if you qualify”.
3. 24 states wrote their own state level pre-existing condition protections. Washington, for example, did, but not Oregon. Did you know that half the states enacted protective laws on this?
4. This left about 10 million individual market consumers in 26 states without protections: This was the entire group the ACA protected on pre-X conditions. An insurance industry executive told me they had a similar estimate but since their work was proprietary, he could not give me their estimate only that mine was in rough agreement with theirs. Surprised that you were misled on this issue?
5. The ACA itself has its own pre-existing condition exclusion as a waiting period. Did you know that? If you did not sign up in the end of year sign up period and then are diagnosed with a disease on Feb 1, you cannot sign up for insurance. You must wait until Jan 1 of next year. This is a pre-existing condition exclusion waiting period by design.
6. The claims that half the country – or sometimes everyone – would lose their insurance were 100% false.

You were intentionally lied to and misled. Think about that for a bit. Prominent organizations participated in outright propaganda lies including politicians, political parties, the media, the KFF policy wonks and more.

Everything they told you was a lie – yet was spread and amplified widely by news organizations and social media. The ACA’s protections were superseded by other existing laws – the ACA expanded this by perhaps 10 million more people – not half the population, not 131 million, not everyone.

That was a very impressive lie that everyone bought in to – hook, line and sinker.

You were lied to and misled.

Actions like that leave many of us disillusioned.

They lie because lying works and is effective at getting what you want.