Thread: AP "fact checks" Obama health reform speech

and finds it comes up short. (Anyone seen some flying pigs lately?)


CALVIN WOODWARD and ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writers Calvin Woodward And Erica Werner, Associated Press Writers – Thu Sep 10, 3:15 am ET
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama used only-in-Washington accounting Wednesday when he promised to overhaul the nation's health care system without adding "one dime" to the deficit. By conventional arithmetic, Democratic plans would drive up the deficit by billions of dollars.

The president's speech to Congress contained a variety of oversimplifications and omissions in laying out what he wants to do about health insurance.

A look at some of Obama's claims and how they square with the facts or the fuller story:

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OBAMA: "I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits either now or in the future. Period."

THE FACTS: Though there's no final plan yet, the White House and congressional Democrats already have shown they're ready to skirt the no-new-deficits pledge.

House Democrats offered a bill that the Congressional Budget Office said would add $220 billion to the deficit over 10 years. But Democrats and Obama administration officials claimed the bill actually was deficit-neutral. They said they simply didn't have to count $245 billion of it — the cost of adjusting Medicare reimbursement rates so physicians don't face big annual pay cuts.

Their reasoning was that they already had decided to exempt this "doc fix" from congressional rules that require new programs to be paid for. In other words, it doesn't have to be paid for because they decided it doesn't have to be paid for.

The administration also said that since Obama already had included the doctor payment in his 10-year budget proposal, it didn't have to be counted again.

That aside, the long-term prognosis for costs of the health care legislation has not been good.

CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf had this to say in July: "We do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount."

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OBAMA: "Nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have."

THE FACTS: That's correct, as far as it goes. But neither can the plan guarantee that people can keep their current coverage. Employers sponsor coverage for most families, and they'd be free to change their health plans in ways that workers may not like, or drop insurance altogether. The Congressional Budget Office analyzed the health care bill written by House Democrats and said that by 2016 some 3 million people who now have employer-based care would lose it because their employers would decide to stop offering it.

In the past Obama repeatedly said, "If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period." Now he's stopping short of that unconditional guarantee by saying nothing in the plan "requires" any change.

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OBAMA: "The reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally." One congressman, South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson, shouted "You lie!" from his seat in the House chamber when Obama made this assertion. Wilson later apologized.

THE FACTS: The facts back up Obama. The House version of the health care bill explicitly prohibits spending any federal money to help illegal immigrants get health care coverage. Illegal immigrants could buy private health insurance, as many do now, but wouldn't get tax subsidies to help them. Still, Republicans say there are not sufficient citizenship verification requirements to ensure illegal immigrants are excluded from benefits they are not due.

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OBAMA: "Don't pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut. ... That will never happen on my watch. I will protect Medicare."

THE FACTS: Obama and congressional Democrats want to pay for their health care plans in part by reducing Medicare payments to providers by more than $500 billion over 10 years. The cuts would largely hit hospitals and Medicare Advantage, the part of the Medicare program operated through private insurance companies.

Although wasteful spending in Medicare is widely acknowledged, many experts believe some seniors almost certainly would see reduced benefits from the cuts. That's particularly true for the 25 percent of Medicare users covered through Medicare Advantage.

Supporters contend that providers could absorb the cuts by improving how they operate and wouldn't have to reduce benefits or pass along costs. But there's certainly no guarantee they wouldn't.

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OBAMA: Requiring insurance companies to cover preventive care like mammograms and colonoscopies "makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives."

THE FACTS: Studies have shown that much preventive care — particularly tests like the ones Obama mentions — actually costs money instead of saving it. That's because detecting acute diseases like breast cancer in their early stages involves testing many people who would never end up developing the disease. The costs of a large number of tests, even if they're relatively cheap, will outweigh the costs of caring for the minority of people who would have ended up getting sick without the testing.

The Congressional Budget Office wrote in August: "The evidence suggests that for most preventive services, expanded utilization leads to higher, not lower, medical spending overall."

That doesn't mean preventive care doesn't make sense or save lives. It just doesn't save money.

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OBAMA: "If you lose your job or change your job, you will be able to get coverage. If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you will be able to get coverage."

THE FACTS: It's not just a matter of being able to get coverage. Most people would have to get coverage under the law, if his plan is adopted.

In his speech, Obama endorsed mandatory coverage for individuals, an approach he did not embrace as a candidate.

He proposed during the campaign — as he does now — that larger businesses be required to offer insurance to workers or else pay into a fund. But he rejected the idea of requiring individuals to obtain insurance. He said people would get insurance without being forced to do so by the law, if coverage were made affordable. And he repeatedly criticized his Democratic primary rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, for proposing to mandate coverage.

"To force people to get health insurance, you've got to have a very harsh penalty," he said in a February 2008 debate.

Now, he says, "individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance — just as most states require you to carry auto insurance."

He proposes a hardship waiver, exempting from the requirement those who cannot afford coverage despite increased federal aid.

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OBAMA: "There are now more than 30 million American citizens who cannot get coverage."

THE FACTS: Obama time and again has referred to the number of uninsured as 46 million, a figure based on year-old Census data. The new number is based on an analysis by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, which concluded that about two-thirds of Americans without insurance are poor or near poor. "These individuals are less likely to be offered employer-sponsored coverage or to be able to afford to purchase their own coverage," the report said. By using the new figure, Obama avoids criticism that he is including individuals, particularly healthy young people, who choose not to obtain health insurance.

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Associated Press writer Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.

http://tinyurl.com/mvmlj4

PLEASE check out these links and take action Patritots!!!


http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-170249.html

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-170198.html

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-170254.html

For activists wanting to send links and info. around the net:

www.alipac.us ( the leading authority) www.Fair.org and also www.numbersusa.com .

This is an article by Fair.org go to to read the rest of the article.

CRS also confirms FAIR’s assessment that the House bill does not include a mechanism to prevent illegal aliens from receiving “affordability creditsâ€

I would like to comment on the following:

OBAMA: "Nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have."

THE FACTS: That's correct, as far as it goes. But neither can the plan guarantee that people can keep their current coverage. Employers sponsor coverage for most families, and they'd be free to change their health plans in ways that workers may not like, or drop insurance altogether. The Congressional Budget Office analyzed the health care bill written by House Democrats and said that by 2016 some 3 million people who now have employer-based care would lose it because their employers would decide to stop offering it.
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As an employer that provides health benefits, how can I continue to do this with insurance rates that increase 30% a year ? Without health care reform, employers can't continue to absorb these costs. Employees presently lack any guarantees of any plan. So, this argument against Obama's healthcare plan is FALSE.

As an employer, I can presently change the plan or even eliminate it.
The only draw back is I may lose employees. They may go to another job that gives them better health care. The employees are nurses and expect a healthcare plan.

The President is correct. Nothing in the plan forces me to make a change. If the employees are satisfied and I can afford it, their will be no changes.
However, his health plan will not force any changes or eliminate any present guarantees.

I would like nothing better than to eliminate my healthcare plan. It's very expensive and the cost goes up EVERY year. Without some type of reform, to reduce costs, I fear millions of Americans will lose their present day health plans.

The big three automotive companies eliminates their liability for any health care plans. It was all given to the unions. If GM can't afford healthcare, how can my small company ?

The insurance companies make billions and billions of dollars. They deny more claims than ever. Their CEOs make millions and millions of dollars. We have the MOST expensive health care in the world, but we do NOT have the best insurance coverage. We do NOT have the best of health.

Insurance companies are spending millions of dollars to fight any reform.
They want to minimize competition. They successfully denied us safe drugs from Canada. They want us to pay for insurance and then drop our coverage when we get sick.

We have MORE to fear from the insurance companies than the President's healthcare reform. The insurance companies are spreading lies and fear about reform. These companies don't want you healthy, they want your money. Too many of you are believing the lies spread by the insurance industry, in order to fight reform.

Good reforms may provide you with better coverage and lower the profit margins of these health insurance companies.

The President is "on the right track", to seek reform.

magyart wrote,

As an employer, I can presently change the plan or even eliminate it.
The only draw back is I may lose employees. They may go to another job that gives them better health care. The employees are nurses and expect a healthcare plan.

Just wondering, if your company was in the insurance business would you feel the same way?

I have no desires to help this behemoth of a federal government to get any bigger than it already is. I will continue to fight to make it smaller, more understandable and more accessible.

I have no desires to bailout any company, yours or GM or any other.

I do believe if this debate ever makes its way toward an honest discussion, then we will see alternatives.

What is the history of insurance?

What is the history of the federal government and any entity that they have ever tried to manage?

No thanks, I'll take an honest debate, a smaller federal government, and true reform.

Nothing personal and I can tell from your post that you feel like you are between a rock and a hard place. I wish you and your company the best. We did not get into this mess overnight, and it will take honest efforts to get out, otherwise we will have just placed the same burdens in another drawer.

"They must think your stupid."- Wonder Boy CEO @ The Office of Rainbows and Moonbeams

Originally Posted by FreedomFirst

OBAMA: "Don't pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut. ... That will never happen on my watch. I will protect Medicare."

... And don't pay any attention to that man behind the curtain!

What else can one expect from a man who has cloaked all of his qualifications? It's time for Americans to summon the heart and the brains and the courage to speak up about this man! Not only is he a very bad President... it's turning out that he's not a very good wizard, either!