FACT CHECK: Roy Blunt leaves out the context of Missouri’s health insurance coverage

What I like most about fact checking — aside from working as a watchdog and attempting to hold elected officials accountable for their loose words — is the study of nuance. On the one hand, it can be a little terrifying, that facts, real and undebated ones, can still be so twisted to present a case so different from that of another interpretation. But on the other, it’s simply fascinating to see the way leaving out this tidbit, or adding that, can paint an entirely new picture.

Here, Roy Blunt made a good point: most of Missouri’s counties don’t have access to competitive insurance under the Obamacare marketplaces. But those counties didn’t make up the majority of the population. So, while he was trying to argue that most people in Missouri didn’t have access, what was actually going on was a valid issue about the coverage provided to those in rural areas.

Such a nuanced issue, though, is far harder to use as a persuasive topic of debate.