Debunking 8 Ridiculous Myths Against Healthcare Reform.
November 23, 2009

 
Share

Saturday, the Senate passed its own healthcare reform bill, which will now go to Committee for melding with the House Bill into a single healthcare reform bill to be voted on by both houses of Congress. Just getting this far was a monumental task. It was passed in the House with only a single Republican vote, and in the Senate on a strict Party-line vote (39 Republicans voting “no”. George Voinovich did not vote. Apparently, returning home for his “30th-year-in-office” anniversary party was more important than providing healthcare reform to his constituents.) Opposition to healthcare reform has been fueled by misconceptions, paranoia and even outright lies… created by the healthcare industry, pushed by their lobbyists, and promoted by they loyal minions in the GOP that would pull the “plug on grandma” (if I may borrow their terminology) if it helped their corporate masters buy a beach house in New Jersey

Republican stupidity never ceases to amaze me. Conservatives actually seem to take pride in being stupid. George W Bush, and later, John McCain, literally boasted of how poor their grades were in school as if “ignorance” was some sort of badge of honor. And the Right’s new darling, Sarah Palin, is a former beauty-queen (which she lost to the one black contestant), turned sportscaster (which she quit), turned small town mayor (which she quit), turned small state Governor (which she quit), turned Vice Presidential candidate (which she lost to the one black contestant), is George W. Bush in high heels: the brains of Dubya with the conniving of Cheney all rolled into one. I thought I had seen the pinnacle of that love for all things stupid when they crowned her their queen, despite a series of embarrassing interviews in which she was incapable of answering the simplest of questions (“What newspapers do you read?”), all the while blinking out landing instructions to the mothership in Morse code.

Leaders of the Republican Party have learned how to harness that stupidity for their own personal gain while convincing their paranoid xenophobic followers to actively work against their own best interests. A number of myths and lies about healthcare reform have become so prevalent, they are actually believed by a plurality of Americans:

  1. Myth: The Public Option would be a “GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER” of the health care industry.
  2.  

    Truth: This one drives me nuts and I could almost do an entire column on this one point alone. Every Republican opposing healthcare reform does so by claiming, “I oppose this government takeover of health care.” Well, as much as I wish it were so, the government is NOT nationalizing the healthcare system like they have in Canada or Great Britain. ALL they are proposing is adding another life insurance company… this one run by the government, to compete against private insurance. And EVEN THAT may be asking too much (see petition link on left). Yet, somehow, they call this a “takeover”?

    The basis for this insipid lie is the ridiculous belief that a government option that competes with private insurers would be SO inexpensive that the private insurance companies, unable to compete, would eventually be driven out of business, leaving Americans with no choice other than the government insurance system. Besides not being true, seriously now, outside of the GOP and healthcare CEO’s, who’s REALLY worried about the insurance companies ability to profit off your misery?

    So the bill itself is not a direct “takeover”. They just BELIEVE that that is the natural eventual result… even if it takes 50 years to happen. But Republicans fear-monger that passage of a “public option” would “absolutely unquestionably” result in this happening within days/weeks/months of its passing, even though (as our petition clearly points out) there is a VERY good chance the final bill will DENY most Americans the right to even choose it.

    To make their argument even more insane (Yes They Can… get even crazier) while they argue The Public Option would be so cheap everyone will chose it over private insurance (putting private insurers out of business), it would simultaneously be so bad with its “rationing” and “death panels”, the quality of care would go down. How does Mercedes compete with Kia if (as they believe) no one is willing to pay more for better coverage? Why buy a Cadillac when you can buy a Yugo, right?

    Truth is, in EVERY country with a “public option” (most notably Japan, which the plan most closely resembles), they enjoy a thriving private insurance industry. Insurance companies in Japan don’t make $2Trillion in profit every year like they do in the U.S. (which explains why they are fighting this tooth & nail), but they DEFINITELY haven’t all been put out of business trying to compete with the government.

    (One side note: On Sunday’s “This Week with Steph-O“, guest wingnut Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) slipped up and claimed “the public option would LEAD TO a government takeover of health care” rather than declare the two synonymous. Apparently, Sen. Blackburn didn’t get the memo.) You won’t find her slip in the transcript as it was omitted under the guise of “(CROSSTALK)”.
     

  3. Myth: We need to pass a law that “allows insurance companies to sell policies across state lines.”
  4.  
    Truth: Republicans argue that one of the reasons insurance rates are so high is because we don’t “allow” insurance companies to sell policies across state lines, falsely suggesting that this is something the insurance companies want. In truth, there is no law “specifically” prohibiting the sale of health insurance across state lines. The McCarran-Ferguson Act passed by Congress in 1945 allows state law to regulate the business of insurance without interference from the federal government on the grounds that different states have different rules governing insurance. This prohibition gives them near monopolies in many states, and shields them from “interstate commerce” laws. There are many crimes that do not fall under Federal jurisdiction because they take place solely within the boundaries of a particular state.

    If we both live in the same state, and I cheat you out of a million dollars, only the State has jurisdiction and only the State can prosecute me. But if we live in different states, the Federal government can step in and prosecute me because it has jurisdiction over “interstate commerce”.

    As such, the insurance companies don’t want the law prohibiting the sale of health insurance across state lines repealed. Note that when Republicans controlled Congress (1994-2006), no one ever proposed lifting the ban because the insurance companies would have gone as ballistic then as they are today.

    A more correct phrasing would be for government to “repeal the law” and “FORCE” insurance companies to sell policies across state lines. But Republicans use the term “allow because it makes the insurance companies seem like the victim with the big bad government out to get them.

    So whenever you hear some Republican talk about “ALLOWING” insurance companies to “sell insurance across state lines”, you can call them on it.
     

  5. Myth: “We have the greatest healthcare system in the world!”
  6.  

    Truth: We have one of the best “Rescue Care” systems in the world. We also build some of the best yachts in the world too (thanks to John Amato for the metaphor). Premium Healthcare that no one can afford means no healthcare at all for millions of Americans. “Rescue Care” is just a tiny fraction of our day-to-day healthcare needs.

    And it bears repeating that the United States is 50th in life expectancy (78.11 years) and 33rd in infant mortality… two of the most reliable statistics in judging the quality of healthcare by country.

    ADDENDUM: NYT Columnist NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF wrote an excellent Op/Ed earlier this month on the topic of American Longevity & Mortality. Among the points he makes, this is particularly interesting:

    [T]here is one American health statistic that is strikingly above average: life expectancy for Americans who have already reached the age of 65. At that point, they can expect to live longer than the average in industrialized countries. That’s because Americans above age 65 actually have universal health care coverage: Medicare.

    (Hattip to The Grey Matter blog for the link.)

     

  7. Myth: Long waits. If everyone can go to the doctor for “free”, you will see “lines around the block” and wait times of days/weeks/months… even years. But, the fact is, if you can’t afford to see a doctor, your “wait time” is *forever*. If you walked up to any person and offered to pay their surgery free & clear if they’re just willing to wait a couple of months, how many people would say “No”? And recent examples of “lines around the block” of people waiting for the H1N1 vaccine are the result of CORPORATIONS unwilling to use additives that would stretch our stockpile of vaccine (like they do in England) because it would cut into profits. Those lines have NOTHING to do with government-run healthcare and EVERYTHING to do with privatized medicine and CORPORATE GREED.
  8.  

  9. Myth: Bureaucrats will come between you and your doctor. We have them now. It’s called “the insurance company”, and some idiot with a degree in accounting, not medicine, is deciding whether they’ll pay for your treatment.
  10.  

  11. Myth: “Death Panels”. We have those too. It’s called “the insurance board”, and when they deny your claim, that’s every bit the “death panel” as anything Sarah Palin ever dreamt up.
  12.  

  13. Myth: Only the poor can’t afford health insurance.
  14.  

    Truth: Over 60% of all bankruptcies are due to medical bills. And three-quarters of those people had heath insurance at the time. Providing low-cost insurance is not just a service for the poor.
     

  15. Myth: Illegal aliens will get free tax-payer funded healthcare.
  16.  

    Truth: Now, it has already been debunked nine ways to Sunday that “illegal aliens will not receive free heathcare”. I myself, wrote about the subject last September, so there is no point in rehashing that issue.

    But even more simply, THIS ISN’T NATIONALIZED HEATHCARE where anyone can just walk into a hospital and get treated for free. It’s AN INSURANCE PROGRAM, where members will pay premiums and be given an insurance card. No card, no coverage. Now, if some illegal alien wants to sign up for the public option and pay premiums like the rest of us, what does it matter if the patient is a citizen or not? Meanwhile, RIGHT NOW, illegal aliens can & do receive “free” healthcare by going to the emergency room… which Republicans think we ALL should do for “last-resort” healthcare.

 

A little over a year ago, the website “WebMD” posted a study claiming that cancer survival rates in the U.S. were higher than in Canada or the U.K.. Naturally, as you might expect, armed with only half the story, Republicans have been spreading this statistic (but, conveniently, NOT the actual report itself) as “PROOF” that the American healthcare system is superior to the “socialized medicine” of those other two countries.

But, if you follow the link to the report in question, it lists America along side Japan (which has the public option) and France (with probably THE most socialized healthcare system in the world) as matching the U.S. in cancer survival rates. The study also looked at only four types of cancer (prostate, colon, rectal, and breast)… ALL of which are most common among older Americans most likely to be on Medicare… our own single-payer government healthcare system.

Now, despite those facts, some will still try and argue that the mere fact the survival rate is higher here points to our superior medical technology… fueled by profit. “Take that profit motive away, medical innovation suffers and people die.” More nonsense. You can’t draw “causality” based on two facts that may or may not be directly related. Maybe our fitness crazed culture plays a role? And what happens to the numbers when you include other cancers like melanoma (with all our sun-worshipers) or leukemia (which may or may not be caused by exposure to too much EMF radiation… from sources like power lines and cellphones)? We don’t know because the report doesn’t say. And did they include Brits and Canadians that sought out “money-is-no-object” private care in their sample? Again, we don’t know because they don’t say. One thing’s for sure, American doctors aren’t withholding any vast wealth of medical technology from the rest of the world, so the reason for the difference is almost certainly environmental, not technological.

As I noted in previous weeks, the U.S. does not have a monopoly on medical innovation. But in recent years, the trend has been to focus more on “cosmeceuticals” with high profit margins. While we focus on pills for “restless leg syndrome, a better diet pill, the next E.D. treatment (Viagra is actually a British invention) or (Gawd help me) a pill for longer eye lashes”, cures for cancer, AIDS, heart and lung disease all fall by the wayside… quite possibly because keeping them “chronic” keeps the money rolling in. Meanwhile, Thailand’s socialized healthcare system developed the worlds first HIV vaccine. So much for the lack of a profit motive stifling medical innovation. In fact, it is the LACK of a profit motive that frees up medical research to concentrate on deadlier, yet less lucrative, ailments.

And on a personal note, anyone that cites “God” to argue AGAINST healthcare reform… be it “pulling the plug on grandma” or “abortion”… I’d like to point out Jesus, when he went around healing the sick, didn’t ask people for their insurance card before he’d render service. If we find ourselves before God, and I have to explain why I wanted to provide healthcare to the poor while you want to argue against helping people based upon some imagined religious reason, I feel I’m on more solid ground then you are.
 


 

Please REGISTER to post comments or be notified by e-mail every time this Blog is updated! Firefox/IE7 users can use RSS for a browser link that lists the latest posts!
WRITERS WANTED – Keeping this blog current can be a bigger job than for just one person. “Mugsy’s Rap Sheet” is looking for VOLUNTEER guest writers to contribute to our blog to help make it worth visiting more than once a week. To contact us, please send an email to the address on our About Us page along with a sample and/or link to your writing skills. – Mugsy


 

Share

November 23, 2009 · Admin Mugsy · 9 Comments - Add
Posted in: Healthcare, myth busting, Politics

9 Responses

  1. dronenumber8 - November 23, 2009

    You are right Mugsy.

    Everyone deep down knows that its logical to cover MORE people for MORE procedures and it will cost less and we know that we all need to save money during an economic recession so let’s save money by covering MORE people for MORE procedures to SPEND less and we know that the best way to cover all those people most efficiently is a massive top down, bureaucrat heavy, Soviet Union style, system so that the whole process can work as efficiently as the post office does versus companies like FedEx and UPS.

    Right?

  2. Mugsy - November 23, 2009

    Hi dronenumber8,

    Since you have clearly already bought the GOP propaganda hook, line & sinker, I’m not sure what I could say to bring you back to the reality-based community.

    America is the ONLY G20 nation without a national healthcare program that covers every citizen, so naturally you toss out “the Soviet Union” as your one and only concept of what “socialized” medicine is like.

    I know Republicans are a bunch of frightened children afraid of their own shadows (that’s how we ended up in Iraq), but “government” actually has a function. You might of heard of it: “Provide for the common defense. Promote the general welfare. And ensure the blessings of our liberty”? “Defense” is not limited to the military. “The general welfare” does not refer exclusively to “welfare for the poor”, and you’re not free when if you are so sick you can’t do anything… include get better faster so you can go back to work and start paying taxes again.

    Regarding: “Why not socialize everything?” We only socialize things that fall into three categories: when “mass competition” just isn’t practical… such as local mail delivery (having dozens of privatized mail carriers all covering the same ground every day would drive costs through the roof) or providing water/sewage (you can’t have dozens of companies all laying pipe everywhere).

    Second: when a service is too big for any one company to provide… such as the interstate highway system or the military.

    And third: When we DON’T WANT a service to be “for profit”. The police and the fire department fall into this category. Healthcare should fall into this category as well.

    ALL of these things are “socialized”, right here in the good ol’ USofA.

    Realize, insurance companies DO NOT PROVIDE MEDICINE. Doctors & Hospitals do. All they do is handle the money. And “for profit” insurance makes its money ONE WAY and one way only: by *denying* care. Period. For every thousand dollars in profit health insurers make, there is a person they denied care to. To defend the private insurance system is to defend the right of a corporation to deny you care.

  3. dronenumber8 - November 23, 2009

    Mugsy, I read your first point and without reading the rest I already know how “true” it is. Of course the government “option” won’t be a takeover. It’s not like business and workers paying for their own insurance and then everyone elses through this new tax will eventually be FORCED onto the government or that Obama and countless other Democrat leaders have said it’s their goal to slowroll us into a single payer system over and over and over and it’s not like they’ve already slowrolled government take over of other industries that they first said they wanted to and then said they wouldn’t and then did (GM, banks, etc.).

    We are just so smart when we trust these truthful Democrats, aren’t we? Let’s make sure they don’t all lose their election seats to our stupid country realizing how smart their Soviet Union style plans are.

  4. dronenumber8 - November 23, 2009

    Mugsy, your points ALL reinforce the great idea of nationalizing not just the entire health industry because of the evils of capitalism and America but of ALL industries.
    Why NOT nationalize everything? Don’t the elites and the government know best for us and doesn’t it work so well?

  5. kirbysguy - November 23, 2009

    Drone

    why are conservatives such as yourself so obsessed with nationalizing everything. Stop already! it isnt going to happen, no matter how much you hope it will!!

    You have a lot of replies on here, and I have to say I can see how passionately you feel about your point of view. I have a lot of respect for the depths of these beliefs, and want to offer some suggestions for how to stand up for these beliefs:

    Stand up against the public school system (which I hope you didnt attend. If you did, you should repay the taxpayers right away, so you can be comfortable that you didnt receive a socialist-indoctrination type of education). You should make a sign and go protest in front of any public school! Stand up for what you believe is right!

    Make sure you contact the fire and police departments, so that they are aware you do NOT need or want their involvement in anything related to your person or premises. We all understand the need for these services, so you should set up a billing procedure that they follow in order to pay for these services if ever they are need. (This is certainly NOT something you should have to think about if your home burns down or you are robbed. Just wait for the invoice — so easy)

    Start hauling your trash to the local dump yourself. What better way to demonstrate your American spirit than by people seeing the work you put in to NOT having trash service stop at your house.

    make sure you do not use any public transportation — buses, subways, etc. If you walk or drive everywhere, people will know that you exude the true spirit of Capitalism (bonus points for NOT being in a carpool — make sure your travels are on your dollar and your dollar alone — dont want any potential appearance of accepting a handout in the form of a ride). Unfortunately, you have no choice but to use public roadways — this will have to be ok, but strict adherence to the above notions will certainly help.

    use only fedex and UPS. Dont send anything through the mail — yes, it isnt a perfect system anyway, and spending 43¢ per letter, instead of the higher charge from the private companies, screams I AM A SOCIALIST. Better to fight this now.

    Protest all branches of the military. This is one of the biggest socialist organizations around! Even the National Guard. I mean, come on, can anyone believe that when disaster strikes, this group will go to that area and help out. What an insult to Americans! You should start protesting outside of recruiting centers (this could be a great day, if you start at the schools in the morning, then move to military facilities).

    Good luck with your efforts to ensure America continues to thrive!!

  6. dronenumber8 - November 23, 2009

    http://anepigone.blogspot.com/2008/11/politics-and-iq-conservative-democrats.html
    Oops, looks like the average Republican is smarter than the average Democrat IQ-wise but hey, facts don’t matter when we have an axe to grind Mugsy. If the “global warming” cult, I mean scientists, can pitch their data so can we. Let’s just make it up as we go, ok? Let’s just keep going because expanding government “feels good” even if it might bankrupt the country and not help anyone.

  7. Mugsy - November 23, 2009

    Yes, compared to the Dubya/Palin brain-trust, Democrats are all drooling imbeciles.

  8. kirbysguy - November 23, 2009

    Drone

    did you actually READ the link you posted?

  9. kirbysguy - November 23, 2009

    Wow

    havent ever seen this blog, but I am glad I discovered it. A lot of your debunking are things I have discussed with many people — leading me to wonder why there is even an debate at all, considering that most of the opposition to health care reform has little to no factual basis, and is mostly a creation of scary things that could happen in the future. When did fortune telling become a legitimate talking point?

    Anyway, thanks Mugsy. I will be saving this post and emailing it to people.

Leave a Reply