Health care reform myths and facts
Myth:Health care reform is a government takeover of our system. It's socialist.
Fact:The government is not taking over the system. Private companies still will sell insurance and you will choose which company will insure you. The companies will have more restrictions. For example, they all must cover wellness care and they can't throw you off their rolls if you get sick.
Myth: Doctors will decide whether patients get care through "death panels."
Fact:If you have Medicare and wish to talk to your doctor about end-of-life care -- your wishes about what you want should you become unable to express your wishes -- your doctor would have been paid for his or her time. The rule went into effect Jan. 1, but it was rescinded Jan. 5 becuse of lies about it being a death panel. Everyone needs to have this conversation. Everyone. It is not a doctor telling a patient how he or she will die; it is a patient learning how to express his or her wishes about what care they want at the end of life. End-of-life care often is highly technical, usually painful and always the most expensive type of care we ever will get. We have learned to extend life, but not quality of life, and some of the technology only delays the inevitable by a few days, perhaps weeks. If Grandma has this conversation with loved ones, makes a living will and appoints a health care proxy (everything you need is at www.fivewishes.org), no one will pull the plug on her unless she has asked that it be done. The real death panels are in places like Arizona, where people who were on the list for lifesaving organ transplants are being told they can't have them. These people are being told how they will die (organ failure) and when (soon).
Myth:We can't afford to give everyone health care.
Fact:The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the law will raise the cost of health care by about $940 billion over the next 10 years, but it will reduce the deficit by even more than that because of new taxes, fees on industries involved in health care, and cuts in projected spending growth for existing government health efforts, primarily Medicare. People who get regular checkups and management of chronic illnesses cost a lot less than the crisis care they get now, so much of the savings will be realized by the prevention of needless suffering. Sort of a win-win.
Myth:Because of waste, fraud and abuse, Medicare is far less efficient that private insurance.
Fact:Medicare spends 97 percent of the money it gets on services; private insurance companies had to be told in the new law that they must spend at least 80 percent. Medicare doesn't spend money on multi-million dollar bonuses or advertising and public relations.
Myth: Most Americans want the law repealed.
Fact:Americans are pretty divided about whether the law should stand. Much depends on where they get their information about the law. People who believe the myths about the law are more likely to say it should be repealed. It's difficult to get the truth out there because of the media's belief that they need to tell "both sides", which means they repeat the lies as though they were valid and people believe them.
Fact:The government is not taking over the system. Private companies still will sell insurance and you will choose which company will insure you. The companies will have more restrictions. For example, they all must cover wellness care and they can't throw you off their rolls if you get sick.
Myth: Doctors will decide whether patients get care through "death panels."
Fact:If you have Medicare and wish to talk to your doctor about end-of-life care -- your wishes about what you want should you become unable to express your wishes -- your doctor would have been paid for his or her time. The rule went into effect Jan. 1, but it was rescinded Jan. 5 becuse of lies about it being a death panel. Everyone needs to have this conversation. Everyone. It is not a doctor telling a patient how he or she will die; it is a patient learning how to express his or her wishes about what care they want at the end of life. End-of-life care often is highly technical, usually painful and always the most expensive type of care we ever will get. We have learned to extend life, but not quality of life, and some of the technology only delays the inevitable by a few days, perhaps weeks. If Grandma has this conversation with loved ones, makes a living will and appoints a health care proxy (everything you need is at www.fivewishes.org), no one will pull the plug on her unless she has asked that it be done. The real death panels are in places like Arizona, where people who were on the list for lifesaving organ transplants are being told they can't have them. These people are being told how they will die (organ failure) and when (soon).
Myth:We can't afford to give everyone health care.
Fact:The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the law will raise the cost of health care by about $940 billion over the next 10 years, but it will reduce the deficit by even more than that because of new taxes, fees on industries involved in health care, and cuts in projected spending growth for existing government health efforts, primarily Medicare. People who get regular checkups and management of chronic illnesses cost a lot less than the crisis care they get now, so much of the savings will be realized by the prevention of needless suffering. Sort of a win-win.
Myth:Because of waste, fraud and abuse, Medicare is far less efficient that private insurance.
Fact:Medicare spends 97 percent of the money it gets on services; private insurance companies had to be told in the new law that they must spend at least 80 percent. Medicare doesn't spend money on multi-million dollar bonuses or advertising and public relations.
Myth: Most Americans want the law repealed.
Fact:Americans are pretty divided about whether the law should stand. Much depends on where they get their information about the law. People who believe the myths about the law are more likely to say it should be repealed. It's difficult to get the truth out there because of the media's belief that they need to tell "both sides", which means they repeat the lies as though they were valid and people believe them.