Countering Helath Reform Misinformation

COUNTERING HEALTH REFORM MISINFORMATION

WHY HEALTH CARE REFORM WORKS FOR YOU

As the debate over health care reform continues, special interest groups
have begun spreading rumors and misinformation designed to make the
public doubt, or even fear, reform. Below are real facts about our
current system and proposed reforms.

Why Health Reform Works for You

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Our Current System - You currently have health insurance through your
employer, Medicare, Medicaid, VA, the military, or some other source.

Proposed Health Reform - You will be able to keep the health insurance
that you have.
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Our Current System - You may be, or may become, uninsured because: your
employer can change or end your health insurance coverage at any time;
you lose your job and are not eligible for or can't afford COBRA health
care continuation insurance; you do not have insurance through your work
place; you cannot afford private insurance or no private insurance
company will sell you a policy.

Proposed Health Reform - You will be able to purchase health insurance
through a Health Insurance Exchange: you will have a number of health
plans from which to choose; if you have limited income, you will receive
assistance with the cost of the premium.
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Our Current System - You have a pre-existing condition: health insurance
companies can refuse to sell you health insurance; If health insurance
companies sell you insurance, they may not cover services they decide
are related to the pre-existing condition.

Proposed Health Reform - You have a pre-existing condition: health
insurance plans will not be able to deny you insurance; health insurance
plans will not be able to deny coverage of claims based on pre-existing
conditions.
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Our Current System - Health insurance companies can charge you a higher
premium based on gender or health status.

Proposed Health Reform - Health insurance plans will NOT be able
to charge you higher premiums based on gender or health condition.
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Our Current System - Health insurance plans can charge exorbitant
out-of-pocket expenses: high deductibles; high co-pays; limits on how
much they will pay in a year and over a lifetime.

Proposed Health Reform - There will be limits on out-of-pocket costs: no
cost-sharing for preventive care; annual out-of-pocket caps; no annual
or lifetime limits on how much coverage your insurance will provide.
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Our Current System - Insurance premiums and health care costs are rising
rapidly.

Proposed Health Reform - Mechanisms will be in place to help contain
costs. A public health insurance option that competes with private
plans will keep costs low as it encourages innovation and efficiency in
health care. Other health system reforms, including a focus on
prevention and coordination of health care, will help reduce costs.
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Medicare IS Public Health Insurance

44 years ago Medicare was enacted into law. All of today's dire
warnings about a public health option - socialism and government barring
the doctor's door - were made in opposition to Medicare. Despite such
opposition from "conservative," leaders, Medicare passed because of some
courageous, principled law-makers.

Before Medicare, 50% of everyone 65 or older had NO health insurance.
Now, as a result of Medicare, almost all older people are insured.
Medicare, which is national, government-run health insurance, succeeded
in insuring older people where private insurance failed. Further, until
the Bush Administration privatized Medicare with huge subsidies to
private "Medicare Advantage" and Part D plans, Medicare was also
remarkably cost-effective. It's private Medicare, not the traditional,
public program, that's bleeding taxpayers of billions of dollars.

Medicare has been a success, fiscally and morally. It took on the job
of insuring health coverage and care to people that private insurance
had abandoned. Since 2003, on the other hand, private Medicare plans
have cost us all tens of billions of dollars that went to support the
private insurance industry, not to providing health care. In addition,
private Medicare plans have too often engaged in marketing abuses and
restrictive coverage practices.

As numerous studies have shown, people with Medicare love it. They do
not want government to fool around with the traditional program.
Ironically, some people with Medicare are arguing against a public
health care reform option ? while also telling the government "to keep
its hands-off their Medicare!" They, and their family members, (which
accounts for pretty much all of us), forget that the traditional
Medicare program is a public health insurance option.

Meet Medicare: Our 44 year-old public health insurance option that
provides care to all its enrollees everywhere in the country, and that
has provided health and economic security for millions of older people,
people with disabilities, and their families. For two generations, the
public Medicare program has shown what a true public insurance program
can offer: health insurance for the otherwise uninsured, at a price that
taxpayers can afford.

Now, for all generations, we need a public option in health reform!

For more information, contact executive director Judith Stein in the
Center for Medicare Advocacy's Connecticut office at (860) 456-7790.
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Learn from Medicare: Support real health reform; support a public plan!