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AARP & Health Care. Myths vs. Facts
AARP ^ | unknown | aarp

Posted on 08/04/2009 7:33:52 PM PDT by US_MilitaryRules

Don't Let the Myths About Health Care Reform Scare You.

There are special interest groups trying to block progress on health care reform by using myths and scare tactics. Like the notion that health care reform would ration your care, hurt Medicare or be a government takeover. Actually, these are false statements.

All of the health care reform plans currently being debated in Congress would ensure that you and your doctor are the ones making decisions about your health. The majority of working Americans will continue to receive their health care through their employer. In addition, health care reform will strengthen Medicare by eliminating billions of dollars in waste while lowering prescription drug prices.

Throughout the debate on how to fix what's broken about our health care system, AARP pledges to help you cut through the noise and find the facts about what health care reform means for you and your family. When we see special interests using scare tactics, we'll make sure you're given the facts so you can make informed decisions about health care reform.

The following are some of the most common myths being spread about health care reform and the facts that prove them wrong. Myth: Health care reform is socialized medicine.

Fact: Health care reform will preserve the employer-based health care system, meaning an estimated 200 million Americans will continue to get their coverage through their employers.

Fact: For people buying coverage for themselves, there would be a range of private health plans to choose from. Also, the so-called "public plan" option would seek to give American consumers another choice if they can't find affordable, quality coverage in the private insurance market. The goal of the "public plan" is to give consumers the best value for their money and force greater competition among insurance plans for our business.

Fact: Every proposal that Congress is considering would allow people to choose their own doctors and hospitals.

Bottom Line: Health care reform isn't about a government takeover. It's about guaranteeing all Americans a choice of health care plans they can afford.

Myth: Health care reform means rationed care.

Fact: None of the health reform proposals being considered would stand between individuals and their doctors or prevent any American from choosing the best possible care.

Fact: Health care reform will NOT give the government the power to make life or death decisions for anyone regardless of their age. Those decisions will be made by an individual, their doctor and their family.

Fact: Health care reform will help ensure doctors are paid fairly so they will continue to treat Medicare patients.

Bottom Line: Health reform isn't about rationing; it's about giving people the peace of mind of knowing that they will be able to keep their doctors and that they will always have a choice of affordable health plans.

Myth: Health care reform will hurt Medicare.

Fact: None of the health care reform proposals being considered by Congress would cut Medicare benefits or increase your out-of-pocket costs for Medicare services.

Fact: Health care reform will lower prescription drug costs for people in the Medicare Part D coverage gap or "doughnut hole" so they can get better afford the drugs they need.

Fact: Health care reform will protect seniors' access to their doctors and reduce the cost of preventive services so patients stay healthier.

Fact: Health care reform will reduce costly, preventable hospital readmissions, saving patients and Medicare money.

Fact: Rather than weaken Medicare, health care reform will strengthen the financial status of the Medicare program.

Bottom Line: For people in Medicare, health care reform is about lowering prescription drug costs for people in the "doughnut hole", keeping the doctor of your choice, improving the quality of care, and eliminating billions in waste that is causing poor care and medical errors.

Myth: Health care reform is too expensive – we can't afford it.

Fact: The President and Congress have committed to producing legislation that will be paid for so it won't saddle our children and grandchildren with debt.

Fact: If we do nothing to fix health care, families with Medicare or employer-based health coverage will likely see their premiums nearly double again in the next seven years.

Fact: If we do nothing to fix health care, the share of your income spent on health care will nearly double in the next seven years.

Bottom Line: When one in three Americans say someone in their family skipped pills, postponed or cut back on needed medical care due to the cost; when countless bankruptcies are related to medical expenses; when the number of uninsured approaches 50 million; when government spending on health programs rises so rapidly that it jeopardizes other priorities; and when employers struggle to pay for the costs of health care, the fact is, we can't afford not to fix health care.

Myth: Health care reform means the government can make life-and-death decisions for you.

Fact: Health care reform will NOT give the government the power to make life-and-death decisions for anyone regardless of their age. Those decisions will be made by individuals, their doctor and their family.

Fact: No one, including the government or your insurance company, will be given power to make life-and-death decisions for you.

Bottom Line: Health care reform isn't about putting the government in charge of difficult end of life decisions. It's about giving individuals and families the option to talk with their doctors in advance about difficult choices every family faces when loved ones near the end of their lives.

Help us fight the myths and demand health action now:


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; Politics/Elections; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: aarp; deathcare; healtcare
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Can any of this be refuted?

http://aarp.convio.net/site/PageNavigator/Myths_vs_Facts

1 posted on 08/04/2009 7:33:52 PM PDT by US_MilitaryRules
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To: US_MilitaryRules

http://aarp.convio.net/site/PageNavigator/Myths_vs_Facts


2 posted on 08/04/2009 7:34:27 PM PDT by US_MilitaryRules ("We live in an amazing, amazing world, and it's wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots)
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To: US_MilitaryRules

Yes, all of it since the AARP is now in bed with Obama!

I wouldn’t trust anything they say/print.


3 posted on 08/04/2009 7:35:31 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: kcvl

I called AARP and told them I was joining the Association of Mature American Citizens.

I urge FReepers to check them out.


4 posted on 08/04/2009 7:37:42 PM PDT by unkus
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To: US_MilitaryRules

I have read the bill. This is a pure fabrication. ACORN Junior...


5 posted on 08/04/2009 7:37:57 PM PDT by Steamburg ( Your wallet speaks the only language most politicians understand.)
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To: US_MilitaryRules

I got out of AARP post haste a few months ago. They sold out to the far left agenda a long time ago and I just found out.


6 posted on 08/04/2009 7:38:11 PM PDT by bareford101 (Give me liberty, or give me death!)
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To: US_MilitaryRules

Just the fact that it’s from the AARP is sufficient to say it’s bullscoot.


7 posted on 08/04/2009 7:39:13 PM PDT by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists...Call 'em What you Will, They ALL have Fairies Living In Their Trees.)
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To: US_MilitaryRules

I don’t think we need to take our time in refuting any part of this bill from hell. Below is why:

This bill is obviously designed to put the authority to determine who lives and dies in America into the hands of government bureaucrats. As outrageous as that seems, it is true—you can read it yourself. It even gives the government access to all of your accounts, and the authority to make withdrawals. I know this is hard to believe, but you can read it yourself.

Do you want a government bureaucrat to determine if your mother or father can receive treatment, even in life and death cases? Would you want a government bureaucrat to determine if your child, or you, could receive treatment, even when it means life or death? Think of the best experience that you ever had working with a government bureaucrat, and then think about them having the power to make a potentially life or death choice for your child, your parents, or for you. This is actually what is being proposed.

Add to that chilling thought the fact that this bureaucrat does not have to know one thing about medicine to be in that position. In fact, this bill proposes letting the government define what quality health care is and impose that definition on health care workers. Nowhere does it even specify what training, expertise, or qualifications this all-powerful government bureaucrat has to have to be placed in the position to make such ultimate decisions for the health, well-being, and even the lives of Americans.

Am I being too hard on bureaucrats, or the Obama Administration’s intentions? Certainly there are many bureaucrats who are sincere and true public servants. I agree that such are deserving of our appreciation and respect. The modern world could not exist without them. Think of the most noble and conscientious there are. What kind of position would we be putting them in to have to go to work every day and decide who is going to get treatment, who is going to have to go on a waiting list and for how long, and who are they going to have to just let die?

Who could live with such a job? There are many who could, who would just see it as paperwork, and those are the ones who would be in that position because the truly noble ones could not endure it. Hitler found many who could dispatch thousands each day, and then go home and enjoy their own families at night. There are people with that kind of moral disconnect. These jobs will be filled and by the very ones we would never want in such positions.

It is beyond anything I thought I would ever see in my lifetime that such a bill could ever be seriously considered in the U.S. Congress. This bill has the potential for totalitarian control to be imposed on America to a degree that Hitler and Stalin could not have even imagined. With the technology available now, totalitarian control can very quickly be imposed to a degree far beyond what was attained by either the Nazis or the Communists, and this bill has provisions in it for just that. It mandates the sharing of all of your personal information, from just about every conceivable source, with the new health care bureaucracy being set up to implement this national health care system. The penalties for trying to escape this web are serious. This would actually make America into a national concentration camp, and we can be sure that ultimately it will be a national death camp. You do not have to take my word for it—read it for yourself.


8 posted on 08/04/2009 7:40:12 PM PDT by bareford101 (Give me liberty, or give me death!)
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To: kcvl

Glenn Beck has the head dude at AARP on his show today — if you missed it Beck re-airs in three hours, well worth the watch, he ended up mocking the guy who lied through his teeth.


9 posted on 08/04/2009 7:40:15 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: bareford101

Not just the far left, ACORN.


10 posted on 08/04/2009 7:40:57 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: US_MilitaryRules

Trouble is, we don’t know WHAT the final version will look like, Pelosi & Reid could spring something new on the committees at the conference stage.


11 posted on 08/04/2009 7:42:00 PM PDT by 1066AD
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To: Arizona Carolyn
then they sold out to Communism
12 posted on 08/04/2009 7:42:14 PM PDT by bareford101 (Give me liberty, or give me death!)
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Comment #13 Removed by Moderator

To: US_MilitaryRules
Can any of this be refuted?

And refuted publicly? And soon? Because this is aimed at senior citizens who don't know any better. Apparently, our government has launched a full campaign to discredit informed citizens and push their lies. If we sit back and watch for long, it will soon be too late.

Conservatives have done a great job of getting the truth out there but it's hard when they're fighting outright lies.

14 posted on 08/04/2009 7:46:40 PM PDT by Kenny
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To: kcvl
well, AARP loved the Hillary health care plan too. That's when I threw my AARP card in the garbage. Only used it at motels anyway for a few cents off the bill.

Who needs them,shysters.

15 posted on 08/04/2009 7:47:11 PM PDT by BARLF
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To: US_MilitaryRules

Every bit of it has been refuted and explained in detail. Right here on FR.

IMO, if you’re an AARP member, then you’re a two fisted Kool Aid drinker


16 posted on 08/04/2009 7:48:30 PM PDT by papasmurf (RnVjayB5b3UsIDBiYW1hLCB5b3UgcGllY2Ugb2Ygc2hpdCBjb3dhcmQh)
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To: US_MilitaryRules
Fact: Health care reform will preserve the employer-based health care system, meaning an estimated 200 million Americans will continue to get their coverage through their employers.

Until it's declared "unqualified".

17 posted on 08/04/2009 7:50:33 PM PDT by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
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To: US_MilitaryRules

This is why every piece of junk mail I get from AARP goes into the “circular file.”


18 posted on 08/04/2009 7:52:54 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Stop the DemocRATS' War On America!)
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To: US_MilitaryRules

AARP has dropped all pretenses of being objective and non-partisan (they always were left-wing, but they’ve dropped the mask now). Anyone who remotely cares about small government and health care freedom should reconsider their membership in AARP.


19 posted on 08/04/2009 7:52:57 PM PDT by St. Louis Conservative
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To: US_MilitaryRules
Fact: Health care reform will preserve the employer-based health care system...

Stopped right there, as it will preserve the current employer-based system for the total duration of a split second after the "reform" becomes law. After that moment, if you quit your insurer, you cannot join another private one - you must go on the public plan. And if you keep your current pvt insurer, the "reform" lays out how it must morph into the same plan as the public plan. If you are in no plan now, you can only join the public plan. The "reform" is a means to do the same to private insurers as when cash-for-clunkers does to perfectly good car engines.

20 posted on 08/04/2009 7:53:22 PM PDT by C210N (A patriot for a Conservative Renaissance!)
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