From the Walsh for Congress (8th District) campaign…
Fiction: You can keep your existing coverage.
Fact: Wrong. If government insurance is less expensive to employers (who are already paying for it with their taxes) many will drop their current plans in favor of the less expensive, government-run plan. Private sector insurance will not be able to compete with the unlimited funding and will go under further increasing the states’ Medicaid burden.
Fiction: Care will not be rationed.
Fact: Wrong. The House version would establish a new tax on every health insurance policy to fund 111 new federal bureaucracies including the Health Benefits Advisory Committee that would be tasked with deciding which treatments are more cost-effective. The research findings would be used by the government to ration care.
Fiction: The estimated $1.052 trillion bill will reduce deficits by $139 billion and reduce health care costs.
Fact: Wrong. The Illinois Policy Institute estimates national health care expenditures to increase by an additional 9% by 2019 adding at least $1.3 trillion burden on the American middle class over the next ten years. Overall, total federal spending will be 5.6% higher than otherwise by 2019 and medical price inflation will increase by 5.2% above what it would have been otherwise by 2019.
Fiction: The majority of American people are for this health care bill.
Fact: Wrong. For instance, 55 percent of respondents to a recent CNN poll think the U.S. health care system needs a great deal of reform. Yet, more than eight in ten Americans also said they’re satisfied with the quality of health care they receive. In conclusion Americans may want health care reform but they don’t want this bill that will disrupt their current quality of care.
Fiction: The health care bill will create jobs.
Fact: Wrong. By 2019 the US economic growth will be reduced by 4.9 % reducing employment growth by 3.9 million jobs nationally. The reform bill would have a negative effect on small businesses which create 60 – 80 percent of new jobs in our economy. Additionally, the 8% payroll surtax has no small business exemption, meaning employers with an average of 17 employees or more who can’t afford the mandated coverage are subject to an 8% payroll tax that would impose a combined $153 billion tax on small businesses. The Illinois Policy Institute reports a loss of 169,000 jobs in Illinois alone.
Fiction: Seniors will keep their Medicaid coverage.
Fact: Wrong. Over the next ten years the Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would make $550 billion in cuts to Medicare with more than $150 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage causing many plans to limit benefits, raise premiums or withdraw from the program forcing millions of seniors out of their current coverage.
Fiction: Including abortion coverage will cut down on unwanted births and lower overall health care costs.
Fact: Wrong. Not only is federally funding abortions demoralizing to our entire society as a whole, but the procedure is expensive now and could continue to cost money for decades. Finally, in a study of teenage abortion patients, who would be most likely to receive funding, half suffered a worsening of psychosocial functioning within 7 months after the abortion. The symptoms included self-reproach, depression, social regression, withdrawal, hasty marriages and obsession with need to become pregnant again which starts the process and spending all over again.
Fiction: Melissa Bean is representing your concerns about this bill.
Fact: Party over the People. We can’t afford Melissa Bean in Congress.
Sources:
Harvard School of Public Health
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
IPI Study: Adding Insult to Injury (.PDF File)
The Health Care Reform and Affordability Act, H.R. HR3962
Joe Walsh is the Republican candidate running against Democrat incumbent Melissa Bean in 2010 for the Illinois 8th Congressional District. Born and raised in North Barrington, a policy advocate, teacher, and business entrepreneur, Joe has spent his adult life advancing limited-government and conservative principles. For more information on Joe Walsh and his campaign visit