title: The hazards of correcting myths about health care reform.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Misperceptions are a major problem in debates about health care reform and other controversial health issues.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted an experiment to determine if more aggressive media fact-checking could correct the false belief that the Affordable Care Act would create "death panels." Participants from an opt-in Internet panel were randomly assigned to either a control group in which they read an article on Sarah Palin's claims about "death panels" or an intervention group in which the article also contained corrective information refuting Palin.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The correction reduced belief in death panels and strong opposition to the reform bill among those who view Palin unfavorably and those who view her favorably but have low political knowledge. However, it backfired among politically knowledgeable Palin supporters, who were more likely to believe in death panels and to strongly oppose reform if they received the correction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results underscore the difficulty of reducing misperceptions about health care reform among individuals with the motivation and sophistication to reject corrective information.
authors.affiliation: Department of Government, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. nyhan@dartmouth.edu
authors.forename: Brendan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nyhan
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reifler
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Ubel
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; D011057:Politics; D011639:Public Opinion; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D014481:United States