Do go read the entire editorial. It lays waste to most of the Republican and Tea Party distortions, nonsense and outright lies -- in their attack ads, particularly -- related to the Administration's Health Care Reform package of 2010:
. . . .PURE NONSENSE: John Raese, the Republican candidate for the Senate in West Virginia, is claiming that the law will require patients to go through a bureaucrat or panel to reach a doctor. That is flat out untrue. You will still choose your own doctor or insurance plan without interference. Nor, despite other claims, will the law provide subsidized insurance to illegal immigrants. They are precluded from using even their own money to buy policies on new exchanges.The Obama administration will not be compiling a federal health record on all citizens, including each individual’s body mass index, as Ann Marie Buerkle, a Republican running for a House seat in upstate New York, has claimed on her Web site. The administration is offering incentives to doctors to record various vital statistics in electronic medical records and report the data in the aggregate, to help understand national health trends.
WE CALL THAT CAPITALISM: Republican politicians never tire of denouncing health care reform as a “government takeover” — or socialism. What is true is that the law relies heavily on private insurers and employers to provide coverage. It also strengthens regulation of those insurers and provides government subsidies to help low- and middle-income people buy private insurance on the exchanges.Those exchanges will promote greater competition among insurers and a better deal for consumers, which last time we checked was a fundamental of capitalism. . . .
Reform has also energized federal officials and many state regulators to challenge and force down big increases sought by insurers. The Justice Department just filed suit against BC/BS Michigan, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan, for allegedly using its market power to drive up costs for its competitors and its own subscribers. . . .
It is said that knowledge is power. Vote your power, next month.
5 comments:
More of what Republicans aren't saying:
1. Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott was chairman of hospital chain Columbia/HCA when it was fined multi-millions for Medicare fraud. Scott went on to found a Tea Party style group, Conservative Americans for Health Care Reform.
2. The Republican vice presidential candidate of the 2008 election originated the death panel lie.
3. American Hospital Association's PAC is running a lot of ads for Illinois senatorial candidate Mark Kirk, who has made numerous misstatements regarding his military reserve service. He is running for President Obama's former seat. Thus far, this candidate has done nothing but smear his opponent, but one can infer that backing by AHAPAC is equivalent to an anti-PPAAC stance.
I'm sure there are more examples, just can't think of any more at the moment.
I think many Republican voters would be very afraid if they knew of the existence of the MIB. Consider it the Experian/TransUnion of medical records. Insurance companies use it to figure out if you "lied" on your health insurance application. If PPACA were repealed by the teabaggers/Republicans, many Republican voters would think a lot harder about their choices, especially if they had small businesses, had children with expensive diseases, etc.
"DING! Ring That Bell! Spot-On!"
These are all fabulous! Sad, but fabulous examples of misinformation campaigning -- using fear as the primary driver.
Thanks! Do stop back.
Namaste
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Here is some truth---
Nonpartisan Experts Conclude Health Overhaul Reduces Labor Force By 788,000 Jobs
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis of the ―effects of recent health care legislation on labor markets.‖18 The CBO‘s findings painted a troubling picture. The massive Medicaid expansion will ―encourage some people to work fewer hours or to withdraw from the labor market.‖19 Additionally, phasing out the subsidies to buy expensive insurance ―will effectively increase marginal tax rates, which will also discourage work.‖20 CBO said ―other provisions in the legislation are also likely to diminish people‘s incentives to work.‖ 21
The CBO ―estimates that the legislation, on net, will reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by a small amount—roughly half a percent—primarily by reducing the amount of labor that workers choose to supply‖, which is more than 788,470 employees.22 Another independent estimate predicted the overhaul will ―destroy a total of 120,000 to 700,000 jobs by 2019.‖23 This is a huge number of future jobs and future workers that will be effectively sidelined because of the health reform legislation. With more than 14 million Americans out of work today, we cannot afford to lose more jobs..
Go read the entire report from MDs.
http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=0d0b33ae-292e-42ba-ba94-43ff234961a2
Thanks, Anon. --
I am happy to take the projection of job losses as prima facie accurate.
However, it is, with all due respect, non-persuasive, when compared to the size of the problem created by "not acting". Said another way, I am convinced that -- even if those jobs are all permanently lost -- we, as a nation, will be better off having some basic level of health care for 99 percent of all Americans.
By the way, the very same non-partisan CBO has also predicted that the reform package will save the nation (and thus its taxpayers!) far more than it costs all of us, by 2018.
Your lost workers will find other jobs -- but without any access to insurance, they likely won't ever be able to afford decent health care.
I really do not mean to be flip, but the size of the savings overwhelms the frictional labor relocation cost -- by several orders of magnitude.
Namaste, and do stop back.
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