Truth vs. Lies

There's been a very organized effort to spread lies and distortions about health care reform. The insurance industry and other special interests are trying to derail reform by making false and misleading claims about health care legislation. Don't be taken in by this assault on the truth. Let's sort out the truth from the lies.

Lie: Health care reform means the government will take away my employer health plan.

Truth: No. CWA members will keep their negotiated health plans and we'll continue to negotiate benefits just as we always have. Health care reform will mean some big improvements in some CWA plans, specificially yearly caps on out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles and co-pays for families and individuals. Annual or lifetime limits on coverage will be outlawed.

Lie: A public plan is "government-run" health care.

Truth: Just like Medicare, a public health insurance plan would reimburse doctors and hospitals for a member's care. Doctors wouldn't work for the government. In Canada, for example, patients see private-sector health care providers who then bill the government, just like our Medicare program.

Lie: With health care reform, you'd have to wait for non-emergency treatment.

Truth: It's a myth that Americans, even those with good insurance, never have to wait to see the doctor of their choice. A 2005 study by the Commonwealth Fund found that only 47 percent of U.S. patients were able to see a doctor on the same or next day when sick, versus 61 percent to 81 percent of patients in four better-performing nations – Canada, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. While waits in those countries for elective surgery were longer, the sick got tended to faster on average.

Lie: Medicare is a failure, that's clear proof that we can't have a   government-run "public option."

Truth: Ask the people who are covered by Medicare. A May 2009 Commonwealth Fund study found that Medicare beneficiaries reported "greater overall satisfaction with their health care, better access to care and fewer problems paying medical bills than people covered by employer-sponsored plans."  Medicare has a whopping 94 percent satisfaction rate among seniors.

Another government health care plan, the Veterans Health Association, is the "industry leader in safety and quality measures, said the Institute for Health Care Improvement.

Lie: Health care reform calls for "death panels" that will pressure senior citizens and others to end their lives.

Truth: Big lie. More than 40 media reports have conclusively discredited this bizarre statement, according to Media Matters and PolitiFact.com.