http://static1.firedoglake.com/1/files/2010/03/mythfactshcr-2.pdf
Myth Truth
1. This is a universal health care bill.
The bill is neither universal health care nor universal health
insurance.
Per the CBO:
* Total uninsured in 2019 with no bill: 54 million
* Total uninsured in 2019 with Senate bill: 24 million (44%)
2. Insurance companies hate this bill.
This bill is almost identical to the plan written by AHIP, the
insurance company trade association, in 2009.
The original Senate Finance Committee bill was authored by a former
Wellpoint VP. Since Congress released the first of its health care
bills on October 30, 2009, health care stocks have risen 28.35%.
3. The bill will significantly bring down insurance premiums for most
Americans.
The bill will not bring down premiums significantly, and certainly not
the $2,500/year that the President promised.
Annual premiums in 2016, status quo / with bill:
* Small group market, single: $7,800 / $7,800
* Small group market, family: $19,300 / $19,200
* Large Group market, single: $7,400 / $7,300
* Large group market, family: $21,100 / $21,300
* Individual market, single:
$5,500 / $5,800*
* Individual market, family: $13,100 / $15,200*
4. The bill will make health care affordable for middle class
Americans.
The bill will impose a financial hardship on middle class Americans who
will be forced to buy a product that they can't afford to use.
A family of four making $66,370 will be forced to pay $5,243 per year
for insurance. After basic necessities, this leaves them with $8,307
in discretionary income out of which they would have to cover
clothing, credit card and other debt, child care and education costs, in
addition to $5,882 in annual out-of-pocket medical expenses for which
families will be responsible.
5. This plan is similar to the Massachusetts plan, which makes health
care affordable.
Many Massachusetts residents forgo health care because they can't
afford it.
A 2009 study by the state of Massachusetts found that:
* 21% of residents forgo medical treatment because they can't
afford it, including 12% of children
* 18% have health insurance but can't afford to use it
6. This bill provide health care to 31 million people who are currently
uninsured.
This bill will mandate that millions of people who are currently
uninsured must purchase insurance from private companies, or the IRS
will collect up to 2% of their annual income in penalties. Some will
be assisted with government subsidies.
7. You can keep the insurance you have if you like it.
The excise tax will result in employers switching to plans with higher
co-pays and fewer covered services.
Older, less healthy employees with employer-based health care will be
forced to pay much more in out-of-pocket expenses than they do now.
8. The "excise tax" will encourage employers to reduce the
scope of health care benefits, and they will pass the savings on to
employees in the form of higher wages.
There is insufficient evidence that employers pass savings from reduced
benefits on to employees.
9. This bill employs nearly every cost control idea available to bring
down costs.
This bill does not bring down costs and leaves out nearly every key
cost control measure, including:
* Public Option ($25-$110 billion)
* Medicare buy-in
* Drug reimportation ($19 billion)
* Medicare drug price negotiation ($300 billion)
* Shorter pathway to generic biologics ($71 billion)
10. The bill will require big companies like WalMart to provide
insurance for their employees.
The bill was written so that most WalMart employees will qualify for
subsidies, and taxpayers will pick up a large portion of the cost of
their coverage.
11. The bill "bends the cost curve" on health care.
The bill ignored proven ways to cut health care costs and still leaves
24 million people uninsured, all while slightly raising total annual
costs by $234 million in 2019.
"Bends the cost curve" is a misleading and trivial claim, as the
US would still spend far more for care than other advanced countries.
In 2009, health care costs were 17.3% of GDP.
* Annual cost of health care in 2019, status quo: $4,670.6 billion
(20.8% of GDP)
* Annual cost of health care in 2019, Senate bill: $4,693.5 billion
(20.9% of GDP)
12. The bill will provide immediate access to insurance for Americans
who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition.
Access to the "high risk pool" is limited and the pool is
underfunded. It will cover few people, and will run out of money in
2011 or 2012
Only those who have been uninsured for more than six months will
qualify for the high risk pool. Only 0.7% of those without insurance
now will get coverage, and the CMS report estimates it will run out of
funding by 2011 or 2012.
13. The bill prohibits dropping people in individual plans from
coverage when they get sick.
The bill does not empower a regulatory body to keep people from being
dropped when they're sick.
There are already many states that have laws on the books prohibiting
people from being dropped when they're sick, but without an
enforcement mechanism, there is little to hold the insurance companies
in check.
14. The bill ensures consumers have access to an effective internal and
external appeals process to challenge new insurance plan decisions.
The "internal appeals process" is in the hands of the insurance
companies themselves, and the "external" one is up to each
state.
Ensuring that consumers have access to "internal appeals" simply
means the insurance companies have to review their own decisions. And
it is the responsibility of each state to provide an "external
appeals process," as there is neither funding nor a regulatory
mechanism for enforcement at the federal level.
15. This bill will stop insurance companies from hiking rates 30%-40%
per year.
This bill does not limit insurance company rate hikes. Private insurers
continue to be exempt from anti-trust laws, and are free to raise rates
without fear of competition in many areas of the country.
16. When the bill passes, people will begin receiving benefits under
this bill immediately.
Most provisions in this bill, such as an end to the ban on pre-existing
conditions for adults, do not take effect until 2014.
Six months from the date of passage, children could not be excluded
from coverage due to pre-existing conditions, though insurance companies
could charge more to cover them. Children would also be allowed to
stay on their parents' plans until age 26. There will be an
elimination of lifetime coverage limits, a high risk pool for those who
have been uninsured for more than 6 months, and community health
centers will start receiving money.
17. The bill creates a pathway for single payer.
Bernie Sanders' provision in the Senate bill does not start until
2017, and does not cover the Department of Labor, so no, it doesn't
create a pathway for single payer.
Obama told Dennis Kucinich that the Ohio Representative's amendment
is similar to Bernie Sanders' provision in the Senate bill, and
creates a pathway to single payer. Since the waiver does not start
until 2017, and does not cover the Department of Labor, it is nearly
impossible to see how it gets around the ERISA laws that stand in the
way of any practical state single payer system.
18. The bill will end medical bankruptcy and provide all Americans with
peace of mind.
Most people with medical bankruptcies already have insurance, and
out-of-pocket expenses will continue to be a burden on the middle
class.
* In 2009, 1.5 million Americans declared bankruptcy
* Of those, 62% were medically related
* Three-quarters of those had health insurance
* The Obama bill leaves 24 million without insurance
* The maximum yearly out-of-pocket limit for a family will be
$11,900
<http://stabenow.senate.gov/healthcare/Patient_protection_section.pdf>
(PDF) on top of premiums
* A family with serious medical problems that last for a few years
could easily be financially crushed by medical costs
