Health Care Misinformation and the Need for Health Care Reform‏

Lately there has been a lot of misinformation and outright fallaciesabout Health Care Reform. Among these are, Illegal Immigrants will get Health Care, this is not in any bill in Congress; Abortions will be provided, this is forbidden by the Hyde Amendment; it will lead to a government takeover, the exact same Health Insurance Company nonsense used on Medicare and in every past Health Care Reform attempt; Members of Congress aren't in it, it must not be any good, Members of Congress and federal workers already have Health Insurance, reform is aimed at the uninsured and underinsured. Then the topper, put out Betsy McCaughey and embellished by 1/2 term ex Gov Sarah Pallin as a Death Panel. The same Betsy McCaughey that first headed a medical device company, Gentac Medical later Biotec and is currently a Senior Fellow in the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank funded entirely by the Drug Industry. Hardly someone impartial or a trusted place for information. The so-called Death Panel is a piece of legislation from Republican Senator Johnny Isakson of GA to pay for any VOLUNTARY consultation about the care and wishes of an elderly person or setting up a Living Will! Something I strongly believe everyone should have in case of a sudden accident or serious illness that prevents your wishes from being conveyed. Anyone wanting true accurate information about what the Health Care Insurance Companies are doing to protect their obscene profits of 430% over 7 years by spreading mis-information to kill Health Care should go to PR Watch.org/center for media and democracy/Wendell Potter. Mr. Potter was the Communications Director & VP of Cigna Health Care until visiting a health fair in VA, he saw unemployed and uninsured people lined up to get health care in animal stalls and under tents in the rain, it opened his eyes to what his and other Health Care Companies had reduced people to doing in order to get some health care they couldn't have gotten otherwise. Not what he expected to see! Anyone wanting information on how much their Representative and Senators get from Drug and Health companies should go to opensecrets.org/Money in Politics. Then ask yourself, how much is that influencing their vote on health care? Is that why they are deadset against any meaningful heath care reform for the people?That favorite group members in Congress like to quote, the Lewin Group is part of and fully funded by United Health Care, not a very impartial or truthful source of information that they like us to think, unless you always believe everything the Health Insurance Companies tells you. The profits of the Drug and Health Care Insurance Industry rose 430% over the past seven years. How much have your premiums risen? How much has your income risen? At the present time the Drug and Health Care Industries are spending 1.3 million dollars a day spreading erroneous and false information to guarantee continuous collection of those obscene profits without interruption.So why is the Drug and Health Care Insurance companies spending 1.3 million dollars a day trying to kill Health CareReform instead of standing on their record and letting Health Care sell itself, if it is so good? Good reasons for wanting a Public Option for Health Care that91% of Americans support, is that America spends 2-1/2 times more then any other industrialized nation in the world on Health Care and gets far less then any other country. For every dollar spent in Health Care, 30-31 cents goes on overhead, multi million dollar salaries and bonuses, advertisements etc. 69-70 cents goes into actual health care. We have the most expensive health care in the world and we are away down the list on infant death, mortality and other ratings. If we continue current spending on Health Care while more and more are being denied Health Care we will end up with a bankrupt nation and little meaningful healthcare. Recently on TV William Kristal admitted that our Military and VA had the best run Health Care in the world! Well guess who runs our Military and VA Health Care? Our government, the same government that not only runs the Military and VA Health Care, but also runs Medicare and would also run a Single Payer Health Care Plan which would only be an Option available to those without Health Care Insurance, anyone that lost their job and health care, were denied coverage or dropped, used up all their coverage or those that didn't like their present health care and wanted to change, but if you're happy with what you have and you're happy paying the premiums, you keep what you already have. Another reason is that 62% of personal bankruptcies are caused by health care costs. Also being denied coverage, shifting the cost on to you or dropping your coverage is a case of a company bureaucrat standing between you and your doctor with maximizing company profits or their own personal year-end bonus as the only critique. As for no choice of doctors, denied coverage or long waiting lists, I can assure you from personal experience that over the past twenty years in Medicare you can change your doctor anytime you want, anywhere in the country, and I have yet to be put on any waiting list or denied any coverage, which can't be said for private Health Care Insurance. So almost each and every one of us is only one sudden and serious accident or illness away from financial disaster, so it is up to each and every one of us to change that now before Health Care Reform is killed once again by the Health Care Insurance Industry as they have every time since President Theodore Roosevelt first brought it up in 1912 with the Bull Moose Party! So far every attempt at Health Care Reform from 1912 until nowhas been killed by the Drug and Health Care Insurance Industry,are we going to allow them to succeed once again this time also?
Frank Gorman
Aiken, South Carolina