Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The top 5 lies of Healthcare Reform

Lie #1: 'You Keep Your Doctor, You Keep Your Insurer'

This is a complete fabrication.
Under plans Obama has backed in the House and the Senate, almost any business can opt their employees into the "public option" — the government health plan. That means you could lose your insurer. And if your doctor is worth his salt, you'll lose him or her as well. Even if you decide to change your private insurance, you can’t. The minute you opt out of private insurance, for any reason you will now be in the “public option”, where you will NOT be allowed to pick your doctor, basically a government run HMO. The plan of the Administration is to get rid of private insurance by attrition. Great doctors probably will not want to get the very low rates the government will pay private doctors who are part of the new government system.
So, without your consent, you very easily could lose your insurer and your doctor.

Lie #2: The Elderly Will Not Face Rationing or Medicare Cuts

More fabrications.
In fact, just last week, The New York Times, a very liberal and very pro-Obama newspaper, admitted that fears of rationing for elderly patients are "not irrational." The truth is that Obamacare would almost 50 million new patients to government care. Who would pay for it. You would! Seniors on Medicare will be the first hit.

Here's what the Times reported: "Bills now in Congress would squeeze savings out of Medicare, a lifeline for the elderly, on the assumption that doctors and hospitals can be more efficient." In fact the government already has in place a price freeze to doctors on Medicare pay, each 4 years the doctors absorb a 40% loss due to increasing costs. There is already a loss of doctors who practice Geriatric Medicine, Healthcare Reform will only make the problem worse. Faceless bureaucrats will decide the type and quality of your care. It is a very dangerous thing to give your life and well-being over to government bureaucrats!

Imagine if you or a loved one is older than 80 years and critically needs heart surgery. Instead of getting the heart procedure, you or that loved one could be informed that you are simply too old.

Lie #3: There Will Be No "Death Panels."

More lies.
Sure, they don't call them "death panels" in the legislation, but that's what their job will be. These committee members will set guidelines with which faceless bureaucrats will make decisions about you and your healthcare. They will decide who lives and who dies. They decide who gets critical procedures and expensive medicines. Again, according to the New York Times, the Democratic plans call for saving money by creating new oversight committees.

The Times says that Medicare and insurers would be expected to follow "advice from a new federal panel of medical experts on 'what treatments work best.'"

Again, this very liberal paper concluded: "The zeal for cutting health costs, combined with proposals to compare the effectiveness of various treatments and to counsel seniors on end-of-life care, may explain why some people think the legislation is about rationing, which could affect access to the most expensive services in the final months of life."

Lie #4: The Obama Plan Contains Costs
More fabrications.
The Obama plan will cost more than $1 trillion in new federal outlays, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
This past weekend, Sen. Joe Lieberman claimed that most of this cost comes from adding 50 million people, currently uninsured, to the government health system. But as Lieberman pointed out, we just don't have the money to do this right now. You can add only so many people to the government system by cutting medical care to seniors on Medicare and raising taxes. Democrats clearly plan to do both.

Lie #5: Illegals Are Not Covered by Obamacare

President Obama has stated time and again that illegal aliens are not covered under his new plan.
Still, Democrats say they want to add almost 50 million uninsured. Yet almost one-quarter of these uninsured are illegal aliens. None of the Democratic plans excludes illegal aliens.
In fact, when Republicans proposed an amendment to the House plan to block illegals from getting free government healthcare, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her minions soundly defeated the motion.

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