By Hootsbuddy
FactCheck.org is keeping busy these days.
Opponents of health and insurance reform are attacking like a swarm of wasps.
The claim that the House health care bill pushes suicide is nonsense.
Many of the e-mails cite former Republican lieutenant governor of New York Betsy McCaughey�s interview on former senator and Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson�s radio show. On July 16, McCaughey, who founded a group called the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths in 2004, appeared on Thompson�s program to discuss health care. Citing page 425 of the bill, McCaughey claimed that �the Congress would make it mandatory � that every five years, people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner, how to decline nutrition, how to decline being hydrated, how to go into hospice care � all to do what�s in society�s best interest � and cut your life short.�
Family Research Council says abortions will trump care for the elderly in public plan.
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At least two Republican leaders have echoed this end-of-life distortion. On July 23, Republican Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the House minority leader, released a statement, along with Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan, saying that the bill would encourage euthanasia......none of the health care overhaul measures that have made it through the committee level in Congress say that abortion will be covered, and one of them explicitly says that no public funds will be used to finance the procedure. Furthermore, none of the bills call explicitly for cuts in Medicare coverage, much less rationing, under a public plan.
The bills leave the specifics of what medical services would be covered up to advisory panels that are supposed to make recommendations to the Department of Health and Human Services, and ultimately up to the secretary of that department. Whether she or he would choose to cover abortions under any new federal plan is something we can�t predict. Our crystal ball functions no better on the topic of whether the elderly, or anyone else for that matter, will get the care they need under such a plan or under Medicare.[CPR] says premiums could nearly double for those who buy their own insurance.
Experts we consulted disagree.
We�ve written about two previous misleading ads from the group Conservatives for Patients� Rights, whose TV spots argue against health care overhaul efforts that are moving through Congress. This ad puts forth a new claim, saying that "new rules could hike your health insurance premiums 95 percent." That�s a startling statement. But it�s contradicted by other experts that find premiums would actually go down under the leading proposals in Congress.
The Fox channel showed disturbing footage this evening of Senator Spector and Kathleen Sebelius speaking at a town hall meeting to a disorderly crowd booing their efforts to defend health care reform. Opponents of reform are succeeding in a relentless appeal to emotions instead of reasoning. You Tube titles make frequent use of the term "Obamacare" although there is no such thing. And tonight's stories on all channels about "we gotta raise taxes" is another nail in the coffin. It's a shame that the Army of Davids is illiterate.
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