I have made comments to President Obama’s weekly address, the bold type comments made from H.R. 3200 or my own.  Everything in normal type is those of Obama.

Each and every day in this country, Americans are grappling with health care premiums that are growing three times the rate of wages and insurance company policies that limit coverage and raise out-of-pocket costs. Thousands are losing their insurance coverage each day.

Without real reform, the burdens on America’s families and businesses will continue to multiply. We’ve had a vigorous debate about health insurance reform, and rightly so.  This is an issue of vital concern to every American, and I’m glad that so many are engaged. (No disagreement here)

But it also should be an honest debate, not one dominated by willful misrepresentations and outright distortions, (this should go for both sides) spread by the very folks who would benefit the most by keeping things exactly as they are.

So today, I want to spend a few minutes debunking some of the more outrageous myths circulating on the internet, on cable TV, and repeated at some town halls across this country.

Let’s start with the false claim that illegal immigrants will get health insurance under reform. That’s not true.  Illegal immigrants would not be covered. (Page 143 states that No Federal Payment for Undocumented Aliens. Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for AFFORDABILITY CREDIT on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States. Nowhere did I find that undocumented aliens would be denied treatment  which would still be paid by the taxpayer.) That idea has never even been on the table. Some are also saying that coverage for abortions would be mandated under reform. Also false. When it comes to the current ban on using tax dollars for abortions, nothing will change under reform. (Page 768 states Improving maternal or child health and PREGNANCY OUTCOMES or increasing birth intervals between pregnancies. While this does not explicitly use the word abortion, one could read between the lines.)  And as every credible person who has looked into it has said, there are no so-called "death panels" – an offensive notion to me and to the American people. These are phony claims meant to divide us.  (Perhaps the concerns lies here, page 30 Health Benefits Advisory Committee. In General – There is established a private-public advisory committee which shall be a panel of medical and other experts to be known as the Health Benefits Advisory Committee to recommend covered benefits and essential, enhanced, and premium plans. End-of-Life Services might cause one to ponder, an unpleasant aspect in the Health Bill page 425. This sounds much like the Living-Will however, a better choice in wording could have been used unless the government plans something much different in the future.)

And we’ve all heard the charge that reform will somehow bring about a government takeover of health care. (Page 21 The Commissioner, in coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Labor, shall conduct a study of the large group insured and self-insured employer health care markets. My question is why would the government being conducting a study on employer health plans if they weren’t planning on a type of control. Reports – Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner shall submit to Congress and the applicable agencies a report on the study conducted under paragraph (1). Such report shall include any recommendations the Commissioner deems appropriate to ensure that the law does not provide incentives for small and mid-sized employers to self-insure or create adverse selection in the risk pools of large group insurers and self-insured employers.) I know that sounds scary to many folks. It sounds scary to me, too. But here’s the thing: it’s not true. I no sooner want government to get between you and your doctor than I want insurance companies to make arbitrary decisions about what medical care is best for you, as they do today. As I’ve said from the beginning, under the reform we seek, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your private health insurance plan, you can keep your plan. Period.  (Page 24 Ensuring Adequacy of Provider Networks In General – A qualified health benefits plan that uses a provider network for items and services shall meet such standards respecting provider networks as the Commissioner may establish to assure the adequacy of such networks in ensuing enrollee access to such items and services and transparency in the cost-sharing differentials between in-network coverage and out-of network coverage.  Provider Network Defined. – In this division the term “provider network” means the providers with respect to which covered benefits, treatments, and services available under a health benefits plan.  In simple terms, if your doctor is in the network, fine, if not, then you can choose a doctor from their list of network doctors.)

Now, the source of a lot of these fears about government-run health care is confusion over what’s called the public option.  This is one idea among many to provide more competition and choice, especially in the many places around the country where just one insurer thoroughly dominates the marketplace.  This alternative would have to operate as any other insurer, on the basis of the premiums it collects. And let me repeat – it would be just an option; those who prefer their private insurer would be under no obligation to shift to a public plan.

The insurance companies and their allies don’t like this idea, or any that would promote greater competition.  I get that.  And I expect there will be a lot of discussion about it when Congress returns.

But this one aspect of the health care debate shouldn’t overshadow the other important steps we can and must take to reduce the increasing burdens families and businesses face.

So let me stress them again: If you don’t have insurance, you will finally have access to quality coverage you can afford. If you do have coverage, you will benefit from more security and more stability when it comes to your insurance. If you move, lose your job, or change jobs, you will not have to worry about losing health coverage. And we will set up tough consumer protections that will hold insurance companies accountable and stop them from exploiting you with unfair practices.

We’ll prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage because of a person’s medical history.  They will not be able to drop your coverage if you get sick.  They will not be able to water down your coverage when you need it most.  They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime.  We’ll place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, because no one in America should go broke because they get sick.

And we will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies.  There’s no reason we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer on the front end.  That makes sense, it saves lives, and it will also save money over the long-run.  Taken together, the reforms we’re seeking will help bring down skyrocketing costs, which will mean real savings for families, businesses, and government.  (While this seems to be a dream insurance policy, the problem here is what this policy would cost. The insurance companies have a long history of increasing policy premiums and out of pocket expenses, while scaling back on coverage. When the insurance companies cannot determine coverage that means only one thing, much higher insurance costs. If the price of private health insurance becomes too high, the costs of insurance will force people to accept the government option.)

We know what a failure to act would bring:  More of the same.  More of the same exploding costs.  More of the same diminished coverage.  If we fail to act, the crisis will grow.  More families will go without coverage.  More businesses will be forced to drop or water down their plans. (While I agree, failure to act will not solve the problem, rushing a health care bill through without much forethought could make our health care system much worse. With an estimated price tag of over 1 Trillion dollars, a better explanation of how this health care plan will be paid for. Taxing only the top 1 - 5% of the top wage earners will not cover the costs; more money will have to come for somewhere.

So we can push off the day of reckoning and fail to deal with the flaws in the system, just as Washington has done, year after year, decade after decade.  Or we can take steps that will provide every American family and business a measure of security and stability they lack today.

It has never been easy, moving this nation forward. There are always those who oppose it, and those who use fear to block change. But what has always distinguished America is that when all the arguments have been heard, and all the concerns have been voiced, and the time comes to do what must be done, we rise above our differences, grasp each others’ hands, and march forward as one nation and one people, some of us Democrats, some of us Republicans, all of us Americans.

This is our chance to march forward. I cannot promise you that the reforms we seek will be perfect or make a difference overnight. (Looks like he gave himself an out just in case the plan didn’t work as promised) But I can promise you this: if we pass health insurance reform, we will look back many years from now and say, this was the moment we summoned what’s best in each of us to make life better for all of us. (I hope this to be true, but so many of government programs have failed again and again) This was the moment when we built a health care system worthy of the nation and the people we love. This was the moment we earned our place alongside the greatest generations. And that is what our generation of Americans is called to do right now.

 

Candace Clark

Christian Political View