Posted by James Sensenbrenner, Jr 9/17 on September 17, 2009, 9:43 pm, in reply to "Health Care: A different perspective on Health Care"
71.84.97.117
More Health Care “Misinformation”
Since President Obama spoke to the nation about health care, we’ve been left with more questions than answers.
Questions such as: if we’re at the “breaking point” with health care, why doesn’t President Obama make his health care changes effective before the 2012 elections? And if reducing waste and inefficiencies in Medicare and Medicaid, two government-run plans, is going to pay for this, why wouldn’t this plan lead to even more government waste and inefficiencies?
But we’ve also been left to ponder more misinformation. In his speech, the President said he wanted to hold insurance companies accountable; however, the President also needs to be accountable to his words. The President is guilty of several points of “misinformation” when it comes to discussing health care.
Misinformation # 1
In his speech, President Obama said that “nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.” This is a change from what the President has repeatedly said in the past – “if you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan.”
A person may not be “required” to change coverage, but when that person’s place of employment finds it’s more cost effective for their employees to be on the public option, employees won’t have another choice. The Congressional Budget Office examined the House Democrats health care bill and estimated that by 2016 approximately three million people with employer-based care would lose it because their employers would no longer offer it.
Misinformation # 2
The President said, “I will protect Medicare.” Yet, he also said, “reducing the waste and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid will pay for most of this plan.” To this I say: show me the money. There are 27,156 seniors in the Fifth District who use Medicare Advantage, and many experts believe Medicare Advantage users would almost certainly see reduced benefits from the proposed cuts.
Misinformation # 3
The President was disingenuous in saying illegal immigrants would not receive health care coverage. H.R. 3200, the health care bill, lacks a verification mechanism for eligibility. The bill also suggests that if one member of the family is eligible for an affordability credit, the rest of the family is eligible as well. The President has more work to do if he wants to keep his promise.
Misinformation # 4
The President said he knows “that defensive medicine may be contributing to unnecessary costs,” and that he was “proposing that we move forward on a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first and let doctors focus on practicing medicine.” I believe that to improve health care in this country and reduce health care costs, we need complete medical liability reform.
I recently sent a letter to President Obama offering my help with medical liability reform. If the President was truly serious about wanting to listen to ideas, I hope he’ll accept my assistance. We passed tort reform several times when I was the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, only for it to be killed in the Senate. Now is the time to make it a reality.
I agree with the president that we need to fix what’s broken. I agree that insurance companies should not be allowed to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions or drop coverage when someone is sick. BUT, to do this we need to work together to develop a meaningful solution that the people can have confidence in.
11
