As health care reform legislation continues to be debated in Washington and around the country, there is a lot of misinformation about the implications and intents of reform. The Senate HELP committee has passed a bill, as have the three House Committees with jurisdiction over health care.  The Senate Finance Committee has yet to finalize its bill, which will be merged with the HELP Committee bill for consideration by the full Senate.  While the process is far from complete, there are several myths that can be dispelled.

MYTH:    The current health care system doesn’t need to be changed.

REALITY:    Unless you are an insurance company CEO, the answer is false.  Health insurance premiums have doubled over last 9 years – a rate 3 times faster than wages.  If we do nothing, in 30 years, 1/3 of our economy will be spent on health care. Health spending could increase from $2.5 trillion now to more than $7 trillion in 2025. Every week, 44,230 people are losing their health insurance.  Rising health care costs are jeopardizing family budgets, state budgets and the federal budget.  

MYTH:    There’s nothing in a health care reform bill to help seniors.

REALITY:    False. Reform has been endorsed by the AARP.  It would shrink the donut hole in the Medicare prescription drug program that has forced seniors to pay exorbitant amounts of money out of their own pocket for prescription drugs.  Preventive care and coordinated care for multiple conditions would be supported and strengthened.  Older citizens have much to gain from comprehensive health care reform.  

MYTH:     Reform is too expensive and will drive up the deficit.

REALITY:    False. All sides agree that health care reform must be deficit neutral.  President Obama has made this one of his clear priorities.  Members are working on how to pay for it and agreement will take some time.  Some of the proposals include a tax on high end insurance policies and repealing some of the tax cuts from the Bush Administration for the wealthiest Americans.

MYTH:    Small businesses are already struggling.  Health care reform will make it worse.

REALITY:    False. Small businesses will receive tax credits to help them cover costs if they already offer coverage or to help them offer their employees health care for the first time.  One study found that without reform, small businesses will spend $2.4 trillion on health care over the next ten years.  With reform, they would save $855 billion.

MYTH:    Health care reform is a government takeover of health care.

REALITY:    False. Reform will actually increase competition and offer consumers more choices.  The “Exchange” that is discussed as a part of health care reform is simply a virtual “marketplace” where consumers can shop for the best policies, benefits, and plans.  If a public plan is included, it will compete against private insurance companies in the marketplace, but it will be only one of many options.  This can only benefit consumers.

MYTH:     The government will insert itself between my doctor and me regarding my care.

REALITY:    False. There is nothing in any of the health care reform bills under consideration that changes the primacy of the doctor-patient relationship.  Some opponents have claimed that comparative effectiveness research, which compares best practices and includes cost as only one factor, will lead to “government rationing” of care.  This is simply not true.  For one thing, comparative effectiveness research is simply that – research.  It examines which treatments work best, considering multiple factors.  We have medical research going on all over the country every day that contributes to better and more effective care.  Moreover, this myth about “government rationing” ignores the current and often tragic reality that rationing goes on every day by insurance companies that regularly deny treatment to patients and proscribe to practitioners what they can and cannot provide.  

MYTH:    Health care reform will mandate euthanasia in order to cut health care costs.

REALITY:    This is absolutely false and a disturbing example of the type of misinformation being perpetuated by opponents of health care reform.  The House bill, HR 3200, includes a Medicare benefit to doctors who provide end-of-life counseling.  It is completely voluntary and is designed to clarify and respect individual’s end-of-life choices about care.  If anything, it is designed to protect individuals’ rights to continue care as long as they desire.  

MYTH:     Health care reform will raise taxes on the middle class.

REALITY:    False. The President has made clear that he will not support any proposal that raises taxes on the middle class.    

MYTH:    Health care reform will increase public funding of abortion.

REALITY:    False, but we must examine this issue closely and carefully. The reality of this myth is that this question has not yet been fully resolved because the specifics of how health care reform will be funded have not yet been fully delineated.  Congress is simply not that far along in the process yet.  Those who make extreme claims about the certainty of increased federal funding are not correct, that is the fact. But what we do know is this:  there is absolutely no expressed funding of abortion in the bills under consideration.  We also know that the United States has restricted federal funding of abortion since 1976, when the Hyde Amendment was first passed.  And several members in both the House and the Senate have publicly expressed strong support for maintaining the status quo of the Hyde Amendment restrictions on federal funding. Health care reform is far too critical to be derailed by frightening hyperbole or deliberate misinformation.   

Morna Murray is a legislative assistant for Sen. Robert Casey, Jr. of Pennsylvania