[koraz]

I just got this email with links to a website. I could use some help from Freepers in verifying their "facts." Here is the link.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/?e=10&ref=text2

[koraz]

try this link.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/?e=10&ref=text2

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Obama: “Socialism means more to us than your life.”

[razorback-bert]

I notice they are using the focus group wording health insurance reform not health care reform.

[roses of sharon]

Axelrod and his parents are communists...no facts, just propaganda.

[Dudoight]

Someone said we needed to have this health care plan because of sky rocketing costs of insurance in the past 10 years.

That is kind of dumb as gasoline costs have more than skyrocketed in the past 10 years....

Does that mean that we will need a gasoline rationing plan regulating how much you get depending on your ‘usefulness’ to society? Will those who don’t own cars (like ‘no health insurance’) get their rationed gas also. Or free bus tickets?

I think gas to operate your vehicle is a human right. Lets get busy.

[rarestia]

I don’t know about anybody else, but I just plain don’t want health care reform. I don’t give a rip about what’s in the bill, I just don’t want it.

Here’s the deal, people... we are catering to a very miniscule minority. The deadbeats who don’t want jobs shouldn’t bitch that they can’t get prescription medication to feed their addictions. I don’t want to be paying for some idiot going to the ER for a bee sting or one of these people who are pathological ER visitors. Our tax dollars already go toward paying for indigent care. Why is this hard to understand?

The morning drive host on my AM station this morning was lamenting that he’s paid over $52,000 and put in scads of his own time for paperwork since he’s self-insured. He’s a contractor for the radio station, so they don’t provide insurance. This guy, a self-described Libertarian, was actually browbeaten to the point that he was asking callers to tell him the downside to not having to file paperwork and spend your own time to get health care.

Every caller just spewed the talking points we all hear. He rebutted every one of them with some level of common sense, but that made me think: just because you’re disenchanted by your experiences with the health care establishment doesn’t mean you should hand it over to the government.

We need lawsuit reform in this country... period. Law schools are turning out lawyers like a union-run auto plant turns out sedans. With a dearth of lawyers looking for money, they’re going to do everything they can to find loopholes and sue based on specialty claims. Hell, someone could probably sue me just for posting this under some obscure law in the US Code, but I don’t worry about that.

Likewise, I think it’s disgraceful that doctors have to worry about being sued for not issuing a test or misdiagnosing. C’mon people... cutting off the wrong leg in surgery is malpractice. Being misdiagnosed with a wart when it’s a pimple doesn’t mean that you go running to sue for all the money.

This country has grown to the point where everyone wants to get rich quick. No one wants to work for anything anymore. No one wants to save. Everyone wants everybody else’s money. Until the American mindset changes, we’re going to be stuck in this rut where doctors are being sued for anything. 8 years of schools and countless years of residencies and internships hardly seem worth it when the doctor needs to have millions of dollars of insurance.

Get government out of healthcare altogether. That’d be a good start.

[kcvl]

But don't be misled.

That means we need to stop reading David "Astroturf" Axelrod's 'note'.

[Vendome]

I just zipped through the FAQ’s and they are a total fabrication of the facts.

I am getting ready for a trip so I can’t elaborate but I recommend reading www.WhiteHouse.gov/RealityCheck

[loungeSerf]

I’m reporting this to flag@whitehouse.gov. Seems fishy.

[Danae]

Anyone buying Dave’s BS here?

Anyone?

(((((((CRICKETS)))))))))

Yea Dave... we can READ, and we have read the bill, and we are NOT interested!!!

[paulycy]

[koraz]

Here is some of my research to rebut each point made in the email.

CEA Chair Christina Romer details how health insurance reform will impact small businesses.

see http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203517304574306303720472842.html

Small Businesses. Employers who don’t provide coverage will have to pay a tax up to 8% of their payroll. Yet those who do provide coverage also have to pay the tax—if the law says their coverage is not “adequate.” Amazingly, even if a small business provides adequate insurance but its employees choose coverage in another plan offered through the government, the employer still must pay.

[koraz]

Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes tackles a nasty rumor about euthanasia and clearly describes how reform helps families.

http://www.defendyourhealthcare.us/images/website_rebuttal.pdf

[koraz]

There have been flawed criticisms of my reading of a section of H.R. 3200. The critics have hastily read page 425 of the HR 3200, rather than reading the full relevant text (425‐443) or considering the reality of being a frail elderly patient. Here are four facts frequently overlooked: The counseling includes not only living wills and durable powers of attorney, but specific methods to end life. On page 430, the bill prescribes counseling on whether or not to forego nutrition, hydration, and antibiotics, in states where such counseling is permitted. There is an inherent conflict of interest in this counseling. Medicare funding is going to be cut 10% over the next decade ($500 billion in cuts) to pay for the health reform legislation, at the same time that Medicare enrollment is projected to increase 30%. More people to care for and fewer dollars will necessitate rationing. It is understandable that the government wants to curtail spending on end of life care. But the use of specific “patient decision aids” (p.443) discussed in the legislation such as scripts, videos, and brochures is problematic. If United Healthcare provided end of life counseling with a script prepared by the insurance company, there would be up uproar over the obvious conflict of interest. The author of “Pants on Fire” should read on to pages 443 to see that patients will participate in “shared decision making.” Shared with whom? The government certified counselors. No where is it stated that the patient unilaterally has the final say. The bill merely says the patient’s views will be “incorporated” into the decision making. The author ignores how unlikely it is that elderly patients will instruct a doctor or other authority figure who offers end of life counseling to stop the presentation

[koraz]

Matt Flavin, the White House’s Director of Veterans and Wounded Warrior Policy, clears the air about Veteran’s benefits.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/07/military_veteransgroups_healthcare_073109w/

Six major veterans groups have warned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that they will oppose a national health care reform bill unless major changes are made to protect veterans and their families.
In a July 30 letter, the groups said that HR 3200, the America’s Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009, could increase veterans’ health care costs, limit their treatment options, deny coverage to their families and “threaten the quality of health care offered to veterans through the VA health care system.”

[koraz]

Kavita Patel, M.D., a doctor serving in the White House’s Office of Public Engagement, explains that health care rationing is happening right now and how reform gives control back to patients and doctors.

Correcting the Untruths About Obama’s Health Plan!
 Obama says: “But keep in mind - I mean this is something that I can’t emphasize enough - you don’t have to participate. If you are happy with the health care that you’ve  got, then keep it.”
Defend your HealthCare
THE TRUTH: The health bills now before Congress would force you to switch to a managed-care plan with limits on your access to specialists and tests.

Two main bills are being rushed through Congress with the goal of combining them into a finished product by August. Under either, a new government bureaucracy will select health plans that it considers in your best interest, and you will have to enroll in one of these “qualified plans.” If you now get your plan through work, your employer has a five-year “grace period” to switch you into a qualified plan. If you buy your own insurance, you’ll have less time.
And as soon as anything changes in your contract - such as a change in copays or deductibles, which many insurers change every year - you’ll have to move into a qualified plan instead (House bill, p. 16-17).

When you file your taxes, if you can’t prove to the IRS that you are in a qualified plan, you’ll be fined thousands of dollars - as much as the average cost of a health plan for your family size - and then automatically enrolled in a randomly selected plan (House bill, p. 167-168).

It’s one thing to require that people getting government assistance tolerate managed care, but the legislation limits you to a managed-care plan even if you and your employer are footing the bill (Senate bill, p. 57-58). The goal is to reduce everyone’s consumption of health care and to ensure that people have the same health-care experience, regardless of ability to pay.

http://www.defendyourhealthcare.us/images/website_rebuttal.pdf

[koraz]

Bob Kocher, M.D., a doctor serving on the National Economic Council, debunks the myth that health insurance reform will be financed by cutting Medicare benefits.

“The $156 billion in Medicare Advantage cuts over the next decade proposed by Mr. Obama will force many seniors to go back to traditional Medicare at greater expense. A new study for the Florida Association of Health Plans found that because Medicare Advantage plans have richer benefits and lower deductibles and copayments than traditional Medicare, seniors in that state would face dramatically higher payments if forced to give up their Medicare Advantage plans. Cost increases would range from $2,214 a year in Jacksonville to $3,714 a year in Miami.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203517304574306303720472842.html

[nutmeg]

The latest directive (via e-mail) by Comrade David Alexrod.

Also, interesting post at #20 regarding the mandatory end of life counseling written in HR 3200.