5 Myths About Health Care Reform

Health Care Reform 

   Time Magazine recently had an article breaking down the numbers of the uninsured in the United States. Not surprisingly, the statistics about the uninsured are different than what the tea-bagging Republicans in the media are proclaiming. Basically, the American public is being lied to by the same villains who brought us the Iraq war. We can’t let them win.

The TV show Myth-busters should leave science alone for a minute and start to focus on the real problems in the United States. The myths do no just relate to the uninsured, but to the actual costs of public health care.

Myth #1: Most of uninsured people in the United States do not work.
This is false. 80% of Americans without health insurance are in working families. Not every job in the United States carries health care benefits with it.

Myth #2: Immigrants (illegal and otherwise) make up a disproportionate number of the uninsured.

This is false. Again, 80% of those who are uninsured are citizens of the United States.

Myth #3: Health Care Reform is too expensive.

False. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently did the numbers of health care reform with some surprising results. The Senate Finance Committee bill will result in a “net reduction in federal budget deficits of $81 billion over the 10-year period.”

Myth #4: Health Care Reform is not a class issue.
Again, false. A majority of  Americans without health care insurance have only a high school diploma.  In this country, most of the people who lack further training beyond high school are under the poverty line.

Myth #5: Competition between health insurance companies and the government  will make health care in the United States worse than it currently is.

This is crazy-talk. In a nation who has traditionally busted monopolies, we encourage competition. Even in free-market economics, competition is valued as a beneficial thing. Perhaps it would force health insurance companies to actually insure more people who might be sick and to stop the process of recission, or cutting people off from their health insurance rolls after the fact. Also, the idea of a public option means that people would have the choice of keeping their current coverage. Maybe someone should explain the word option to members of the Republican party.