Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

August 12, 2009 (From NPR News Headlines)

The story has spread so fast even President Obama got asked about it at one of his town hall meetings. But no, the health care overhaul bill now working its way through Congress would not require seniors to learn how to die prematurely.

It's not, however, because people aren't saying it. The most notable spokeswoman for the cause is Elizabeth McCaughey, the former lieutenant governor of New York. McCaughey's last brush with major public prominence came during the debate over then-President Bill Clinton's health plan, when she wrote a highly controversial critique of the proposal published in The New Republic arguing the bill would have bound everyone inside the new system.

This time McCaughey has been making the talk radio rounds arguing that the latest version of a health overhaul has the government sponsoring suicide education.

"One of the most shocking things I found in this bill, and there were many, is on Page 425, where the Congress would make it mandatory — absolutely require — that every five years, people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner, how to decline nutrition, how to decline being hydrated, how to go into hospice care," McCaughey said on former Sen. Fred Thompson's radio show July 16.

That claim won her a "pants on fire" rating for its lack of truth from the nonpartisan Politifact.com Web site run by the St. Petersburg Times. But it has nonetheless spread like wildfire, being repeated not just on blogs and radio shows but by Republican members of Congress as well. Said a joint statement from House Minority leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), "this provision may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia if enacted into law."

The claims have been highly upsetting to groups like the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, which strongly support what the bill really does — pay health care providers to talk to Medicare patients about creating so-called advance directives, or ways to express their health care desires in writing before they become incapacitated.

In fact, says Kathy Brandt, vice president of professional leadership, consumer and caregiver services, advance directives need not be about cutting off care at all. "If you want everything to be possibly done; all medical treatment to be done for you until your last breath, that's what advance directives can do for you," Brandt says. "I think most people who are healthy adults, not facing a terminal or life-limiting conditions, would want treatment, and nothing that's in any of the health care reform bills that I've heard or seen does anything that would prohibit that."

So why have the demonstrably false claims about death gotten so much life? Harvard public opinion expert Robert Blendon says it's because seniors are very sensitive about their health care. "Seniors worry more about their health care than any other group in American life," Blendon says. "They feel more vulnerable."

Blendon says it's no accident that opponents of the health overhaul chose to single out a provision aimed at seniors to make their case, because if seniors think they have something to lose from the current health care overhaul, "[they] are really going to be very active opponents of this, because that's not what they signed up for," he says.

And seniors, unlike many younger people, are very likely paying more attention to the health care debate.

"The seniors are really going to read and listen to everything and be concerned if they think as a result of the bill their current circumstances are going to deteriorate," Blendon says.

The Sad State of The Healthcare Debate

The following was found on "The Hill's pundits blog." The author, Peter Fenn, comments on "The Republicans and Small Business and Healthcare." As an illustration of the way ALL politicians spin issues, it is sickeningly accurate. The politician's rule is: ignore what the other (person) (reporter) (candidate) says or the question he or she asks. Answer the question you wanted the reporter to ask; address the issue you want to address, whether relevant or irrelevant to the issue to which you are responding. But, most importantly, never, ever let the facts get in the way.

July 28, 2009 – 9:36 am

By Peter Fenn

The Republicans and Small Business and Healthcare

I just love the Republicans’ rhetoric on how they stand up for small businesses.

Democrats propose any kind of tax on millionaires and it suddenly becomes an attack on “America’s small businesses.” We try and put together a healthcare plan that makes it possible to keep costs down for small businesses and allows them to insure employees and it becomes about “big government.”

Democrats go after Goldman Sachs for their average salaries of $900,000 when unemployment is nearing 10 percent and we are “socialists.” Democrats complain that Goldman received over $10 billion last year in bailout money, parlay that into $5.1 in first-quarter profits and prepare to shell out $11.4 billion to their executives so far this year and we are attacking the capitalist system.

Now we find out that Goldman has a Cadillac of a healthcare plan that costs over $40,000, just less than the average American family makes in a year. This plan is truly amazing — no co-pays, no deductibles, no cost for prescriptions and don’t worry about pre-existing conditions. And, of course, all free — and it is not taxed, all deductible. Now, tell me, how does that help our small businesses?

Here are the facts on small businesses: 1. Firms with fewer than 20 employees account for 18 percent of private-sector jobs but almost 25 percent of net employment growth in the past 15 years; 2. However, small businesses pay nearly 20 percent more for the same health insurance policy than larger firms because of broker fees, administrative costs and adverse selection; 3. While 99 percent of firms with over 200 employees offer health insurance only 49 percent of firms with three to nine employees do.

Furthermore, there has been a decrease from 2002 to 2008 of small businesses (three to nine employees) offering health insurance — 58 percent down to 49 percent.

Now, explain to me how this is working so well for small businesses. Since I started my firm over 25 years ago I have paid 100 percent of my employees’ health plans. I was glad to do it and lucky enough to be successful. But, like all small-business owners, I have seen those costs rise considerably. My partner and I saw first-hand how pre-existing conditions can raise the costs; we watched as our premiums went up over the years much faster than inflation or the cost of living. Again, we are fortunate that we can afford it, but many small businesses cannot.

To say that we can’t afford health insurance reform is counterintuitive — we cannot afford not to pass real change to the current system. Small business deserves it and needs it — now. Republicans should get on board and really help America’s small businesses.

© 2009 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

Keeping Track of Healthcare Reform in Washington

For those of you interested in President Obama's effortsd to reform the nation's healthcare system, here is an article regarding the pledge of some healthcare providers to reduce the cost of healthcare and to support portions of the President's program.