Idiot Politics Fact Check - Health Care Reform

In case you didn't know our Government is trying to decide whether or not and the how to fix our nations health care system. Right now there are campaigns running in all media formats to sway your opinion to one side or the other. The Right wants you to be terrified of government run health care and "death panels" while the Left is trying to make you believe that socialized health care will lead to a utopian existance and it will be to no cost to you. The President has even gotten in the game by standing before Congress and attempting to demystify the situation.
The problem is THEY'RE ALL POLICITIANS and that means they are all FULL OF SHIT. So I bring you this, a relatively unbiased look at the various propositions and objections and where the lay in the Fact-Spectrum.

1) What does it cost and how are we paying for it? Probably the biggest question people ask or should be asking is "What is the new health care system going to cost and how is going to pay for it?" There are a couple of facets to the answer to this questions, all of which warrent discussion. The President said during is national address before Congress a few weeks ago that "I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits. Period." Additionallly early estimates by both parties and houses of Congress showed the price tag to be somewhere between $1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion) to $1.1 trillion over 10 years. The President did a bit price evasion when during the same address he said that the cost would be roughly $900,000,000 over 10 years.
The Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisian group tasked at analyzing the true cost of proposed and ratified spending says that the cost will be at least $1 trillion over 10 years. So somehow the President shaved off $100 billion. No big deal though right, its just money.
Bear in mind though that the cost of the new plan is to be paid for by savings that the new system will create. Wait, huh?
Isn't that kind of like buying a $100 shirt on sale for $50 and say that you saved $50? Or like spending $6,000 extra on a new hybrid car to save $14 a week in gas. Sorry, I said this was semi-unbiased.
The new plan promises huge savings by elimating medicare wastes, unnecessary testing, controlling the cost of recordkeeping and controlling drug costs. Personally I think this part is long over due and kicks ass, but not many expert believe it will work. We are looking for $50-60 billion in savings to be used to fund the program.
A group known as the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget another bipartisan group led by people like Maya MacGuineas (Dem), William Frenzel (Rep), Timothy Penny (Rep) and Stephen Stockholm (Dem) say this about the cost/saving issue.
"More access and broader coverage do not save money, however. Greater coverage will increase health spending. Unless major changes are successfully implemented in health care delivery and payment systems, costs will continue to rise from a larger base at a rapid pace. Moreover, potential savings are speculative, while costs are far more certain. That imbalance suggests that unless there is broad popular support for the measures that will be required to achieve savings, the nation’s health care bill could become that much more unaffordable."
Not exactly a warm-fuzzy feeling that is created by this statement, more like an icy finger in the arse.

Others, particularly those cheeky fellows of the Political Right say that this health care plan is a prelude to socialism through heavy taxation. But many fellow Lefties feel the same way. Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen (D) has criticized the President's health-care plan as "the mother of all unfunded mandates," saying it will force states to massively raise taxes or run big deficits. Earlier, one of Obama’s own economic advisers said his health-care plan would explode the federal budget deficit and lead to "crippling deficits" and "higher taxes." Now this piece is not intended to be an Obama-bashing party. I really do like the guy, but I'm not buying the "pay for the program by saving money elsewhere" bit. Are you? And by the way, what does it cost up front to get this whole thing going? Have you noticed that no one is talking about that. Even if the saves materialize, they won't on day 1, which means we will have to spend money that we don't have to get started.
Deficit-neutral? Hmm I don't think so.


2) Death Panels and Care Rationing Come on! Really? Do people really believe that Congress and the President would get together and create a plan that would outline law to set up panels or committees that decided whether little 2 year old Jane with a bad heart gets to have surgery to save her life but old 73 year old Mary can't get the same surgery because she's almost dead anyway? Isn't that pushing it a little too far Sarah? You may not like their politics, but can the Right really make a case that the Left wants to sit in judgement over who gets to live? Actually if there were going to be death panels and rationing, I would rather have Barak and his crew than this guy.

This question is ridiculous, but if you really must be shown proof there is not one line in the entire H.R.3200 that creates any such panels, but a section starting on page 30 sets up a “private-public advisory committee” headed by the U.S. surgeon general and made up of mostly private sector “medical and other experts” selected by the president and the comptroller general. The advisory committee would have only the power “to recommend” what benefits are included in basic, enhanced and premium insurance plans. It would have no power to decide what treatments anybody will get. Its recommendations on benefits might or might not be adopted. Again this question is ridiculous.


3) Will the new plan provide free health care to illegal immigrants? Yeah, this one I think should be really looked at, because lets face it you may like the guys that cut your grass or do your concrete work but do you really want to pay for their medical expenses?
I don't and I'm sorry if that sounds harsh but the reality is that money only goes so far and if we have to water down the coverage or raise taxes to pay for care for people that don't pay any taxes themselves then this plan is doomed. The President said during his national address "There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false – the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally," towit Joe Wilson shouted "You Lie".
In fact Joe Wilson is a fucktard because the The House bill says in section 246 which is titled "NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS," "nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States." Republicans complaint though that this is too loose and that there needs to be more specific language and controls preventing illiegals from accessing the system, and I have to agree.
A rep from the American Immigration Lawyers Association is on record saying that attempting to get a health care credit would have legal repercussions. "Making a fraudulent claim to an entitlement program when you’re not actually entitled to it would have serious consequences for any person," the spokesperson said, "but especially if it’s considered a false claim to citizenship, that would have serious immigration consequences that could ultimately lead to deportation."
Republican Rep. Dean Heller of Nevada proposed an change to the House billl that would have required the use of the SAVE system (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements)to check the citizenship of anyone applying for federal coverage.SAVE is used by Medicaid and similar entitlement programs. The Democrats shot it down in a vote in the House Ways and Means Committee. Figures, again POLITICIANS ARE IDIOTS.
Well there are lots of other complaints and questions, but I know the average reader has a 11 minute attention span so...
If you want to dig into this further check out www.FactCheck.org.

With All Due Respect,
The Chief