US Senior Citizen Speaks Out on Healthcare Bill
Yesterday, I received an email about a 68 year old Texas rancher speaking out against the current healthcare debate. This is a topic that is very personal to me, so any misinformation about it I take very seriously. After watching the video on YouTube, I felt the need to respond to this video and set the record straight. While there is a part two of this video, I have not yet watched it. I might watch it and provide further commentary, but for now here’s part one:
The gentleman in the video seems like a nice guy but, unfortunately, when it comes to the current health care debate he has no idea what he is talking about. What he is talking about is the typical FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) that has been spread around since the whole debate began. I feel sorry for this man because what he believes has been perpetuated on a series of lies.
First, no one in Congress is talking about a complete and total take over of the current health care system by the government. That is a lie predicated on the idea that the so-called “public option” would entail the government telling you what you can and can not do. In no way will the government “make every decision for us” when it comes to our health care. Nor will the government be telling any doctors what they can and cannot do. More on this in a second.
There is one thing that the gentlemen got right. There is a lot of waste in the current Medicare and Medicaid system. No doubt that there is a legitimate concern over how Medicare and Medicaid will be reformed and how it’ll be funded. However, it has already been told that not a single dime will come out of the Medicare trust fund to fund any new health care proposals. In fact, there are proposals that would eliminate billions of dollars in waste and fraud in the system, including unwarranted subsidies that currently go directly to health insurance companies and don’t benefit Medicare recipients in any way.
There are no death panels. Period. It has been proposed that free end-of-life counseling be made as an option that would allow you to discuss end-of-life issues with your doctor if you so choose. It has never been proposed as something that would be mandatory. It has never been proposed that end-of-life counseling would be a substitute for medical treatment for senior citizens. Nor has there been any proposals that tell doctors and hospitals what they can and cannot do as far as end-of-life procedures are concerned. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying and doesn’t know what they are talking about.
Yes, there are over 40 million people without health care insurance. I’m one of them. And, while it is true that anyone can visit a hospital and receive care if they’re hurt or sick, you still have to pay for it. And if you can’t and you’re a legal citizen of the United States, be prepared to receive a bill for it. So, no, there is no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to health care in this country. Everybody has to pay. And for those that don’t pay their bills (both legal and illegal citizens) then, yes, that money will come out of the state and local tax dollars you pay every year.
While you can receive care when your hurt or sick, the problem is that without health insurance you can’t get affordable preventative health care. Right now, I am without health insurance, have been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, and can’t find a single insurance company that will provide full coverage of my ulcerative colitis for at least a year. As such, I’m stuck having to pay in the excess of $300 a month for medications that I’m required to take to prevent outbreaks from ulcerative colitis. Every doctor visit I have for it is anywhere between $125 to $250. That may not seem like a lot but it all adds up. Fortunately, my wife, Sarah, is close to getting a federal job, which means we’ll have full-coverage medical benefits with no restrictions on pre-existing conditions. However, other folks that are in the same position as me are not as fortunate.
So while others might think that the government is looking to “take over” the health care system and tell your doctor what they can and can not do, guess what…insurance companies are already doing that. I can attest to that too. I have a $1,200 bill sitting on my desk right now that my insurance company refused to pay. What was it for? A medicine ball that my doctor prescribed to me after my hernia surgery for pain relief and aid in my recovery. While my doctor felt that I needed to have it, it seems my insurance company didn’t. What’s that about? That was nearly 9 months ago and, to this day, I have yet to resolve the matter with my insurance company. And, believe me, if I had an extra $1,200 laying around I would just pay the bill and be done with it…but I don’t. On top of that, I’ve had to setup payment plans with a few doctors for the few doctor visits I’ve had this year.
Others in our country have gone through the same thing with insurance companies but on a much grander scale. Instead of just a $1,000 bill, some folks have been stuck with hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills to the point where they had to file bankruptcy. In fact, nearly 60% of all bankruptcies filed are due to people not able to pay for their medical bills…and these are people who did the right thing and had medical insurance.
So while others might be more concerned about a “government takeover” of the health care industry, I’m much more concerned about the growing cost of health care, the growing denial of claims and coverage made by the insurance companies, and the ever inflating cost of pharmaceuticals. I do believe this is by far the one thing that effects our economy the most. I also believe it’s a moral issue. I believe that everyone in the United States should have access to affordable health care, not just for times when they are hurt or sick, but also to affordable “preventative” health care.
Now, with that being said, the gentleman refers to a few lines from the HR 3200 bill that has been floating in the House. Keep in mind that this is just one of five bills that have been proposed. The HR 3200 just happens to be the one bill that has been picked on the most, mainly because I think it’s the biggest and most complete out of the bunch. To follow along, feel free to visit the Library of Congress site for more info on this bill. There’s also a PDF of the bill as well, which is easier to follow.
The gentleman makes a reference to page 29 of the bill in which he claims it says “All health care will be rationed based on age, the present health of any patient and the availability of health services and supplies.” If you actually go and read what page 29 of the bill says you will find that that verbiage does not exist in any way. Page 29 has nothing at all to do with the rationing of health care. In fact, nothing in the bill talks about the government rationing of health care.
He also mentions that on page 30, “a government committee will decide what treatments or benefits will be made available under the health care that will be provided. It will be illegal to provide any medical benefits to anyone that haven’t been pre-approved by the committee.” That would be truly scary if this were in any way true…but it’s not.
And, lastly, page 179, “Any non-resident Alien is EXEMPT from individual health care taxes.” This is completely false. In fact, page 179 doesn’t have anything to do with illegal aliens, rather it talks about employer responsibility. This too is a lie, plain and simple.
So where did the gentleman get this information? Here’s a link to some of the same misinformation that has been spreading around. I’ve done some research and nearly every single reference made is completely false and in no way reflects what the HR 3200 bill actually says.
Here’s the truth:
There has been a lot of misinformation spread around about the HR 3200 bill, but it is just one of five bills being proposed and does not fully represent what the final bill will look like. Here is a more accurate look at what is being proposed:
If you have insurance:
- End discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.
- Limit premium discrimination based on gender and age.
- Prevent insurance companies from dropping coverage when people are sick and need it most.
- Cap out-of-pocket expenses so people don’t go broke when they get sick.
- Eliminate extra charges for preventive care like mammograms, flu shots and diabetes tests to improve health and save money.
- Protect Medicare for seniors.
- Eliminate the “donut-hole” gap in coverage for prescription drugs.
If you don’t have insurance:
- Create a new insurance marketplace — the Exchange — that allows people without insurance and small businesses to compare plans and buy insurance at competitive prices.
- Provide new tax credits to help people buy insurance.
- Provide small businesses tax credits and affordable options for covering employees.
- Offer a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice.
- Immediately offer new, low-cost coverage through a national “high risk” pool to protect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created.
For all Americans:
- Insure that not add a dime is added to the deficit and that this plan is paid for upfront.
- Requires additional cuts if savings are not realized.
- Implement a number of delivery system reforms that begin to rein in health care costs and align incentives for hospitals, physicians, and others to improve quality.
- Create an independent commission of doctors and medical experts to identify waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system.
- Order immediate medical malpractice reform projects that could help doctors focus on putting their patients first, not on practicing defensive medicine.
- Require large employers to cover their employees and individuals who can afford it to buy insurance so everyone shares in the responsibility of reform.
If these proposals look familiar to you, you’re not crazy. What is listed here is exactly what President Obama talked about in his latest address to Congress. You can find out more information about his plan here. Looks to me that such proposals consist of both conservative and liberal ideas. If the final bill includes everything listed here then I’m all for it. Certainly would benefit me and millions of other Americans a lot.
Bottom line is this. Do a little research. Find out what the real skinny is on some of the claims being made. Don’t believe everything you hear.
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September 18th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Now that E-Verify is becoming a nationwide verification application to extract 20 million plus illegal immigrants from businesses. It is now growing in aggressive performance for placing true US workers in the job line and outing illegal labor. This operation should now extend to certainly more purposeful uses? That means not just federal contractors but everybody who draws a pay check? Should a health care reform pass all obstacles in the House and Senate chambers, it could have an invaluable function of checking people who are not only applicants for jobs, but health care reform registry. In the future it should be considered to vet a person’s nationality status, when applying for a mortgage? The United States banking system, financial institution were all but swept away on a deluge of corruption that has very sinister undertones in an organization called ACORN.
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform now is under state and federal investigations at this very moment. Other involved institution impacted both Freddie Mac/Freddie Mae and a scheme incorporating underhand minority lending practices. But you might not have heard any of this, from the liberal media about the massive illegal alien mortgage accusations. The whole debacle was the involvement in a corrupt enabling banking industry and ethnic lobbyists, using unethical methods, along with Bush administration to guarantee loans for low income and people that could not possibly afford mortgages. Didn’t Wall Street, the government regulators learn anything from the Savings and loan crisis in the 1980’s?
GOOGLE—Michelle Malkin, she has her own blog and also Google illegal immigrants—mortgages—home loans. Find out about the shady deals which had a massive impact on the 2009 real estate crash. In Addition read how we as citizens and legal residents can demand permanent E-VERIFY. Tell the politicians in Washington at 202-224-3121 It’s about time they worked for the USworking man/woman, instead of paying-off favors to the wealthy business lobbyists? NUMBERSUSA & JUDICIAL WATCH has more answers about corrupt lawmakers and the issues that effects us all. HELP AMERICA SURVIVE. BETTER START COUNTING YOUR PENNIES, BECAUSE IF THE DEM’S PASS ANOTHER AMNESTY–WILL HAVE MILLIONS OF MORE DESTITUTE ILLEGAL ALIENS AND FAMILIES TO SUPPORT!. THE BUSINESSES THAT HIRE THEM WILL NOT!
September 19th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Umm…ok. Not exactly sure what all that has to do with the current health care debate. ACORN has nothing to do with health care. What you’ve written sounds a lot like the typical propaganda from the right and doesn’t reflect reality all that well. About the only thing I can ascertain from it is that we also have to be concerned with illegal immigrants?
Which brings up a good point. I live in Dallas and Parkland hospital has a big problem with illegal immigrants receiving free health care. Personally, I don’t want to live in a country that turns away anyone (illegal or not) from receiving health care when they are hurt or sick. But, at the same time, giving free health care costs a lot of money. Certainly there is an ethical way to handle this problem better.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:18 am
I find the elder ranchers video’s “interesting.” I also find your response “interesting.” I have to admit that you posted links to the major sources of your rebuttal while the video totally assumed we the viewers accepted the narrator as not only truthful but as an expert in what he was speaking about. But…when it comes right down to it, your “reply” to this video does the same thing as the video. Your lack of references to your sources implies that we should trust you and accept you as an expert. You might very well be expressing nothing but the complete truth. I have no way of knowing without searching through the broad references you listed in the hopes of finding the related information.
As a physician, when I write a journal article or presentation for consideration by my fellow professionals I am expected to include references to each of my sources for each of my points. However you don’t provide this point by point reference/bibliography. As such, your rebuttal to this video series (as well as all your other postings) is the same as the video…nothing more than an opinion/editorial (op ed) piece. You make statements and headers such as “The Truth.” If you want your obviously well thought out and written articles to actually make an impact, try referencing each of your points to your source. Include a bibliography. If you actually have referenced the original bills and other official resources, then your work is already done. Just include those links. It won’t be long and your site will be one of the most visited political blogs on the web, and you’ll probably be getting calls from the media for interviews. If you haven’t actually referenced those resources in your article for your readers to check on, then you should start your op ed pieces with “based on my reading and understanding this is my take on the matter” or something to that “tune.” Otherwise you are doing what so many others are doing in this hotbed of misinformation and misdirection, and you claim to be righteously correcting.
Your blogs, while possibly quite true and well researched, without references to each statement of fact are no more informative than the rants of people like Ann Coulter. If you were to research her rants, you would find there is a thread of truth behind them. She just twists it to suit her political/PR agenda. The reason people listen to her is because of the thread of truth…which is just enough when mingled with her fear mongering to gather a popular audience. Many of her listeners are convinced that she is telling the complete truth because she tends to base her arguments on some tendril of truth. Without that tendril…she would just be a media entertainer. With the thread of truth she’s a political pundit. But like all pundits, it’s difficult to discern the truth from entertainment.
I occasionally leave replies like this one on blogs I find that seem well thought out and written, in the hopes that more referencing will be included in future blog posts. If this referencing is not included, I relegate the articles to more of what you refer to as “the misinformation you take very seriously.” There is really no way to know (without complete referencing) that you’re not just spreading more misinformation.
Cheers…Dr. BPW
September 30th, 2009 at 11:09 am
@bpwhistler: Thanks again for writing a great reply! I agree with just about everything you’re saying. I definitely need to spend more time on citing my sources and making sure I backup what I say with references. Definitely will do my best from now on to do that. Great tips! I appreciate your honesty.
September 30th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
@jwhitfield: I’m not sure I made it clear in either of my posts to your blog. I enjoyed your writing. It is obviously clearly thought out and articulated. I wouldn’t waste my time with rants, and certainly not replying to rants. You can’t have a reasonable exchange leading to learning and change with people that rely on fear mongering to get their points across.
While the fear tactic might be effective for garnering support from the masses, I feel its long term effect is the “dumbing down” of our population. They rely on emotional argument rather than fact. I watched some YouTube videos recently of the Tea Party march on DC. There were some definite crackpots that were highlighted. I personally think that as a whole, the crackpots were the minority. I think most of the people participating in those protests are good people with valid concerns. When interviewed, they seemed uninformed and to a degree…illiterate. I know some of the people that participated in this event. They are far from illiterate. But unfortunately because of the emotional nature of the topics and the fear tactic used by the media that these concerned citizens rely on for information, most people are truly uneducated/uninformed regarding the topics they are validly concerned about and protesting.
Your blog clearly sets you apart from the classic fear mongering and emotional appeals typically seen. The elder rancher is probably a nice man with valid concerns…but he did nothing to educate me or allow me to have further debates on the topic based on his video. I too looked at the pages he referenced and found none of the material he quoted…which tended to invalidate anything/everything else he said. Clear and concisely referenced resource material is what sets the expert apart from the fear monger. I get the impression from the little I have read on your blog that you are striving to be the former.
Cheers.
September 30th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Thanks for the compliments! (and the constructive criticism!) I’m definitely trying to refrain from having any sort of bias or preconceived ideas in my blog posts. I’m not always successful…but I try nonetheless. Definitely referencing the resources I base my posts on is a great way to further legitimize what I write.
Definitely agree with you when it comes to people who aren’t in the know. I feel like there’s been a progression within our society where more and more people are being “dumbed down” as you say. Granted, even among the wackos there are some good people. I think the biggest problem I see is the constant labeling and categorizing of just about every person, thought, or idea out there. Much of the fear mongering seems to be based on that. Everything has to fit within a certain principle: right-wing, left-wing, Republican, Democrat, conservative, liberal, moderate, etc. I think that’s the reason why I don’t like labeling myself as anything because my thoughts and ideas don’t always fit into one mold. Doesn’t make sense to me.
December 20th, 2009 at 11:47 am
There are so many aspects of this plan that the politicians keep overlooking though. The medical industry is wrought with overspending and has gone for too long without any regulation or oversight. Insurance premiums have gone up 138% for a reason and it isn’t simply corporate greed.
Private insurance companies are a part of the problem, yes. When regarding health, private insurance never should have been allowed to be profitable business in the first place. For-profit insurance means requires a need to make money and inevitably that is going to affect the quality of the insurance that people are getting from the company. Companies don’t want to spend money on an individual so they will take whatever measures necessary to ensure they don’t have to. But the medical industry has been profiting all along as well. Procedural costs, visits, even x-rays cost varying amounts state to state, city to city and practitioners are being bounced around by pharmaceutical companies to try and make money while waiting a year or more for the insurance companies to pay up.
This may be why the US was ranked #37 according to the World Health Organization. http://www.ourblook.com/component/option,com_sectionex/Itemid,200076/id,8/view,category/#catid107
Either health care needs to become a single unit in which there are no privatized barriers, which we may have lost since the rejection of the public option by the Senate, or we find a way to actually bring health care back to a fair free market based standing. The entire industry is wrought with greed from every angle, physicians hiking costs, pharmaceutical companies giving incentives for pushing their products, lobbyists for insurance company interests, and lobbyists for pharmaceutical interests. Where do we draw the line? Health care has had nothing to do with actual care for well beyond two decades.
December 22nd, 2009 at 7:51 am
I’m not sure if the last comment is spam or not…but given the fact that it looks like some thought went into writing it, I’ll post it. Definitely food for thought.