Health Insurance Reform: Fact and Fiction

MYTH : “A Government ‘Death Panel’ would make end of life decisions for you.”

TRUTH:

• No reform proposal would give the government the power to make any life-and-death decisions.   As is now the case, these decisions will be made by individuals, their doctors, and their families.  
• This outlandish myth is loosely based on a bipartisan provision that would reimburse physicians for the time they spend on an office visit talking with Medicare patients about the kind of care they want.
• This option would give every Medicare patient the opportunity for choice and to exert control of any discussions about end-of-life care or other care.   Because Medicare does not pay for end of life planning now, patients’ wishes are often unknown or unheeded.

MYTH: “ The public option would eliminate all private insurers and millions of Americans would be thrown off of their employer plans.”

TRUTH:

• Under the bill, no one can ever be forced onto the public plan.  The only way someone would enter a public plan is by their own choice.
• Not only would those with employer-sponsored health care be able to keep their insurance, but an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office shows that the House health reform bill would increase the number of people with private health insurance through their employers.

MYTH: “Proposed reform would cover illegal immigrants.”

TRUTH:

• The House health insurance reform bill explicitly prohibits anyone not lawfully in the U.S. from receiving any Federal dollars to get health insurance (Section 246).  

MYTH: “Members of Congress are being exempt from health insurance reform.”

TRUTH:

• Members of Congress receive the same health insurance plans as all 8 million federal employees and their families through the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan.   They pay premiums just like any other worker.
• The Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan would be subject to legislated regulations just like any other employer-based health insurance.

CONCERN: “Health insurance reform would result in the government rationing health care.”

TRUTH:

• There is nothing in the current House health insurance reform proposal that would give government the power to make decisions about the kind of treatments you receive.  The standards of medical care will still be determined by the medical community.
• The bill would prevent the rationing that currently takes place at the hands of private insurance companies.   At a Congressional hearing, three insurance companies testified – without apology - that they had dropped coverage for nearly 20,000 sick patients between 2003 and 2007 because the companies did not want to pay for the patients’ expensive treatment for cancer or other diseases. That means in the current state of health care in America, when you need care the most is when insurance companies go through their files and try to find some technicalities for kicking you off of your plan. This proposal would eliminate this practice.  

CONCERN: “The proposal would hurt small businesses.”

TRUTH:

• Small businesses are hurting now.   They pay up to 18 percent more per worker for the same health insurance compared to larger firms.
• The House health reform bill would create a health insurance store, called an exchange, where small businesses could buy coverage at rates similar to those that large employers enjoy, saving small businesses money.
• Small businesses would also be eligible for tax credits that will help them afford health care premiums.
• Up to 17,000 small businesses in New Jersey’s Congressional District could receive this kind of tax credit to provide coverage to their employees.

CONCERN: “This proposal would make cuts in Medicare.”

TRUTH:

• The cost savings in Medicare in the House bill are all targeted at achieving new efficiencies—expanding authority to fight waste, fraud and abuse and eliminating wasteful subsidies to private insurance companies. 
• None of the cost savings would reduce Medicare benefits – rather, the reform legislation would increase benefits. For example, one of the principal features of the legislation would be to cancel a scheduled 21 percent cut in doctors’ payments, a cut that would cause many doctors to stop treating Medicare patients.

CONCERN: “Health reform is too expensive.”

TRUTH:

• The status quo costs too much.   One study found that without reform, New Jersey family health insurance premiums would rise from $14,000 to $24,000 in 10 years.
• News reports indicate the House bill would cost $1 trillion or less.   That's not $1 trillion every year, as most people assume, but $1 trillion over 10 years, which is the way that people in Washington talk about federal budgets.  This should be considered in relation to the $2.3 trillion spent in total on health care every year, which is about 25 times as much.
• Regardless of the initial government outlay, the savings to Americans may well exceed the amount of government spending. Health insurance reform would save you money by eliminating the hidden tax for the uninsured (about $1,000 per family per year), requiring insurance companies to spend more on actual health care, setting standards for less procedure-based medicine, reducing insurance paperwork, and transitioning to electronic medical records.
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