Click here for Myths vs. Facts
Click here for Articles and Reports

Myths vs. Facts

By now, it should be clear that health reform will not impose death panels, cover illegal immigrants, and pay for abortions. But here are some other myths that need a reality check.

1. The health reform bills will bring socialized medicine. False. Socialized medicine means the government employs health care providers and runs their organizations. Britain's system is socialized. Canada's is single payer (like Medicare): the government pays, but providers are separately employed and compete for business.

2. Foreign countries, with more regulated systems, are less efficient and have worse care. False. Our very mixed system (employer plans, Medicare and Medicaid, individual policies, etc.), with hundreds of insurance carriers, network contracts, managed care rules, and infinite variety of plan designs is must less efficient. About 20-30% of our total costs are for administration, including costs at hospitals and physician practices for billing clerks and doctors dealing with insurance companies. For example, physicians spend an average of 142 hours per year directly dealing with insurance companies (Commonwealth Fund study, May 14, 2009). Other countries' systems are more uniform, with much tighter regulations. Canada spends 6% of its costs for administration, France 4%, Taiwan <2%. Most advanced countries spend half to 2/3rds of what we spend on all costs and have better outcomes (life expectancy, childbirths without complications, etc,). Per T.R. Reid of the Washington Post, "Japan spends $3,400 per person annually on health care; we spend >$7,000."

3. Cost controls stifle innovation. False. Per T.R. Reid, "Any American who's had a hip or knee replacement is standing on French innovation. Deep-brain stimulation to treat depression is a Canadian breakthrough. Many of the wonder drugs promoted endlessly on American television, including Viagra, come from British, Swiss or Japanese labs." In the US, an MRI scan of the neck costs about $1,500. In Japan, it's $98. "Under the pressure of cost controls, Japanese researchers found ways to perform the same diagnostic technique for one-fifteenth the American price. (And Japanese labs still make a profit.)"

4. In other countries, you have to wait a long time for care. False. Per T.R. Reid again, "Canada makes patients wait weeks or months for non-emergency care, as a way to keep costs down. But studies by the Commonwealth Fund and others report that many nations -- Germany, Britain, Austria -- outperform the United States on measures such as waiting times for appointments and for elective surgeries." A 2009 survey of US physician appointment wait times in 15 metro areas showed an average time of about 20 days (4 weeks) for family practitioners and 5 specialty areas.

5. Health reform will ration care. False. Care is already rationed by insurance company plan designs, managed care rules and specific provisions on covered and excluded expenses, not to mention, benefit maximums, limited provider networks, rescission, pre-existing conditions limits, and unaffordable costs that force people to go without coverage or pick high deductible plans and defer care when they get sick. Comparative effectiveness research and best practice guidelines are just to inform doctors and patients about what works best and to provide options. Not having these resources drives up costs and wastes

6. Reform will cut Medicare benefits. False. It doesn't touch current benefits and improves drug benefits.

7. We can't afford to cover the uninsured now. False.

a. Yes, covering them costs money, but we already pay for 37% of their costs from hospitals and doctors shifting their costs in rates charged to other plans (Milliman 2009 study for Families USA). Providers absorb only 26% of the costs and the uninsured pay for another 37% themselves (at full "list rates").

b. The total annual cost of health care is now $2.5 trillion. Covering the uninsured will only add a $100 billion per year, or a trillion over 10 years. But many studies (e.g., McKinsey & Co., Dec. 2008) have found that about 1/3 of our total costs are excessive or wasted dollars ($650 billion/year for 2006, including $91 billion for excessive administrative costs). If we can even cut some of these costs, we can easily cover the uninsured.

c. In evaluating proposals, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) only measures hard dollar costs and savings (e.g., reducing benefits, increasing taxes). It doesn't "score" potential savings from changing provider payments and efficiencies from electronic records and streamlined insurance administration.

8. The Massachusetts reform program, launched over 2006-07 is a failure. Partly. The program greatly reduced the number of uninsured to under 3% (vs. >15% nationally) and did not initially attempt to tackle excess costs (but will now). Still, costs within the health exchange have been held to 5 percent annual increases. Employers have a coverage mandate but could drop it and pay a modest penalty. But more employers have chosen to provide coverage, partly due to worker requests.

9. We don't need a public plan – insurance companies provide enough competition. False. According to the AMA, 94% of insurance markets are highly concentrated, due to mergers - there's little or no competition.

Fact Checking Links:
www.HealthCare4AllPA.org
Jo Ciavaglia's blog: www.phillyburbs.com/opinions/blogs/courier_blogs/jo_ciavaglia.html
Politifact http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/
The Annenberg Public Policy Center http://www.factcheck.org/
Healthcare Reform Myths http://www.healthcarereformmyths.org/HealthcareReformMyths.php?Act=Home

Articles and Reports

Summary of Senate Health Reform Bill
Updated December 21, 2009
Click here to view the pdf.

Testimony of Joseph R. Baker III, President of the Medicare Rights Center, before the New York State Senate Committee on Aging regarding H.R. 3200:
"America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009" and Its Impact on Senior Citizens
September 8, 2009
Click here to view the pdf.

House Health Reform Bill Would Strengthen Medicare
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
By Edwin Park, September 21, 2009
Click here to view the pdf.

Implementation Choices for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization Act of 2009
The Commonwealth Fund, September, 2009
Click here to view the pdf.

"Public Plan Choice In Congressional Health Plans:
The Good, The Not-So-Good, and the Ugly"
By Jacob S. Hacker, Ph.D.
Institute for America's Future, August 20, 2009
Click here to view the pdf.

Crossing Our Lines: Working Together to Reform the U.S. Health Care System
Howard Baker, Tom Daschle and Bob Dole
Bipartisan Policy Center, The Leaders' Project, June 2009
Click here to view the pdf.

Side-By-Side Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals
Kaiser Family Foundation, May 21, 2009
The "Senate Finance Committee Policy Options" column provides the clearest indication so far of what is likely to come out of this committee. Click here to view the pdf.

Notes on Three Health Care Reform Meetings in Early March
This summary, compiled by Bucks Voices' own George Faulkner is available for review. Click here to view the pdf.

A Summary of Recent Health Care Reform Background Papers and Proposals
This summary, compiled by Bucks Voices' own George Faulkner is helpful for those that do no have time to review each report in depth. Click here to view the pdf.

HR 676-PNHP Executive Summary
Executive Summary of the United States National Health Insurance Act (HR676) "Expanded and Improved Medicare for All" Bill Introduced by U.S. Rep. John Conyers, of the 108th Congress

The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice has sent the new Obama Administration a white paper predicting "coverage of everyone will have a much smaller impact on the trend in health care costs, provided that capacity is not increased."
See the full paper at: http://tdi.dartmouth.edu/

In a new report from the Center for Studying Health System Change, the Senior Researcher and coauthor Laurie Felland said, "The number of Americans who cannot afford prescription medications is likely to grow as the economy continues to decline and the ranks of the uninsured grow." The report says that "the number of children and working-age Americans who went without needed prescription drugs because of cost concerns jumped to one in seven in 2007, up from one in 10 in 2003." See the full report at: http://www.hschange.org/CONTENT/1039/

An Analysis of Leading Congressional Health Care Bills, 2007–2008: Part I, Insurance Coverage
The Commonwealth Fund, January 9, 2009

Articles by Dr. John W. Glaser of St. Joseph Health Care System, Orange, CA

Health Affairs: The Policy Journal of the Health Sphere

Health Care That Works for All Americans Report

The Citizens' Health Care Working Group was established by Congress to "engage in an informed national public debate to make choices about the services they want covered, what health care coverage they want, and how they are willing to pay for coverage." 

Questions to Ask About Any Health Coverage Proposal

Questions to Ask About Any Health Insurance Plan

The Cost of Doing Nothing:
Why the Cost of Failing to Fix Our Health System Is Greater than the Cost of Reform
New America Foundation, November 2008

America's Health Rankings, 2008
United Health Foundation, 2008

Women's Fact Sheet
The Kaiser Family Foundation, October 2008

Why Not the Best? Results from the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2008

The Commonwealth Fund, July 2008, Executive Summary

The Commonwealth Fund, July 2008, Link to Full Report

How Many Are Underinsured? Trends Among U.S. Adults, 2003 and 2007

The Commonwealth Fund, June 2008

Information from Health Care Forum at
Bucks County Community College, September 15, 2007
Evaluations
Three Slides

Women and Health Coverage - The Afforability Gap
The Commonwealth Fund, April 2007

Diagnosing Disparities in Health Insurance for Women:
A Prescription for Change
The Commonwealth Fund, August 2001

Dying for Coverage in Pennsylvania

Families USA (PDF)

Pennsylvania Ranks 28^th in Health Care

United Health Foundation, 2006  (PDF)

Health Care Coverage in America: Understanding the Issues and Proposed Solutions (PDF)

Impacts of Health Care Reform: Projections of Costs and Savings

National Coalition on Health Care (PDF)

Seeing Red: Americans Driven into Debt by Medical Bills

The Commonwealth Fund (PDF)

Will Healthcare Costs Erode Retirement Security?

Center for Retirement Research, Boston College (PDF)

National Healthcare Disparities Report: Key Themes and Highlights
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (PDF)