Here Are the Real Facts on the Proposed Health Care Reform

by Mike Hall, Aug 12, 2009 Last night at a Portsmouth, N.H., town hall meeting on the health care reform proposal now making its way through Congress, President Obama said there is room for disagreement, but that disagreement should center on what is actually in the legislation, not “wild misrepresentations.” Telling the crowd it was time to ”set the record straight,” Obama went point by point:

• Under the proposed health care reform, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.
• If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.
• The majority of Americans will still get their health care from private insurers under the plan. One key goal of reform: Make sure private insurers are treating you fairly.
• This is not about putting the government in charge of your health insurance. Have a public option as part of that would keep the insurance companies honest.
• Insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage because of a person's medical history. Period.
• Insurance companies will not be able to drop your coverage if you get sick.
• Another myth that we've been hearing about is this notion that somehow we're going to be cutting your Medicare benefits. We are not.

Obama also pointed out that reform will help bring down the soaring health care costs that are eating working families’ paychecks with fast-rising premiums, growing co-payments and staggering out-of-pocket expenses as insurance companies reduce or drop coverage altogether.

No one holds these companies accountable for these practices…that will change when we pass health care reform.

A provision in the House bill allows Medicare to reimburse people for consultations about end-of-life care, setting up living wills, the availability of hospice care and other difficult decisions families face. But that has been deliberately spun by reform opponents as government “death panels.”

The rumor that’s been circulating a lot lately is this idea that somehow the House of Representatives voted for “death panels” that will basically pull the plug on Grandma. I am not in favor of that.

So I just want to clear the air here. the intention of the members of Congress was to give people more information so that they could handle issues of end-of-life care when they’re ready, on their own terms. It wasn’t forcing anybody to do anything.

The bottom line, said Obama:

If you don’t have health insurance, you will finally have quality, affordable options once we pass reform.

Click here for more health care facts.

from AFL-CIO NOW blog