Skewered Talking Points:You Don't Want a Gov Bureaucrat b/n You & Your Dr

[ShockediSay]

Reply:

NO!
We want some insurance agent that gets a bonus when he denies us the coverage we paid for.


Add your replies to the parroted talking points of the lobbyists.
Pound them right back at them, the insurance and pharmaceutical lobby lawyers.

[opihimoimoi]

1. how cruel...deny 40 million health ins...let them suffer the bills and/or nontreatment

deplorable signs from selfish GOP

[ShockediSay]

3. Most Congressional GOPs [and some Dems] are just shills

shills for THAT LOBBY, That Lobby that is pushing and parroting the same talking points over and over.
Why? It puts money in their pockets at the public majority's expense.

[rusty charly]

2. Thank you Michael Moore:

"The filmmaker begins in the United States, chatting with people who've been reprehensibly treated by our health care system. Subjects include a white woman who lost her African-American husband because of the bone marrow transplant that may or may not have saved his life had it been paid for by their provider, a man asked by doctors to essentially choose between his index and ring finger after the tops of both digits were cut off by a power saw, and a woman whose infant died after doctors refused to help her because her provider insisted she take the child to a hospital that fell within her HMO plan. Their suffering breaks your heart, but what rattles one's mind and consciousness are the confessions of people from inside the health care industry who freely admit to denying coverage and benefits to sick and needy individuals and couples.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/film_review.asp?ID=3043

By the time Moore showcases footage of a former medical reviewer at Humana testifying before Congress about how she was financially rewarded for saving the company money at the expense of people's lives, one has to wonder why we're not protesting on the streets at this very moment for universal health care."

[abumbyanyothername]

4. Got this in an email

TOP 10 FAQ: FACT over FEAR



Fear: We can't afford the public health insurance option.
Fact #1: Since it will have national bargaining power and lower costs, the public option will force private insurers to compete on cost. That will SAVE money. It is self-sustaining based on premiums. Administrative cost for private insurance is 15% compared to only 3% for Medicare, a public plan. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office says it will SAVE $150 billion out of the total cost of health care reform.



FEAR: I don't want to pay for 50 million uninsured Americans' health care.

FACT#2: We're pay ing to take care of the uninsured now. Hospitals charge more from patients with insurance to help make up for those who can't pay their bills. We're all paying more in taxes to cover payments by the governments to hospitals that take care of uninsured patients.



Fear: Some government bureaucrat will come between me and my doctor.

FACT: Private insurance comes between you and your doctor now. Insurers decide which doctors you can see and what drugs you can take. They require hours of paperwork before approving a treatment. Health care reform would standardize claim procedures and reduce administrative waste.



Fear: The government will ration care.

Fact #4: Private insurers ration care for the first 64 years of life, which increases costs in the long term - 80% of overall health care costs are incurred in the last year of life for care of chronic conditions, many of which are preventable. They ration based on your ability to pay. That's what we're trying to fix.



FEAR: The public option will be unfair to private insurers.

Fact#5: The public option will be required to follow the same rules as private insurers. Americans will need to pay premiums for the public option just like for private plans. The difference is the plan will be affordable and focused on your health, not on profits or stock value the insurer.



FEAR: I'm happy with my employer insurance. The government will force me to give it up.

FACT #6: Obama and Democratic members of Congress have said repeatedly that people who are happy with their insurance won't have to change it. Employers who don't offer insurance would contribute to a fund that helps employees buy it on their own. Small businesses would be eligible for subsidies. Everyone will have standard and comprehensive benefits similar to what a member of Congress h as.



Fear: Health reform means a government takeover of medicine as in England and Canada.
Fact #7: It will look nothing like those in England and Canada. Obama supports a uniquely American reform that would build on the current employer-based insurance while ensuring affordable comprehensive coverage for those who lack it. Obama wants to fix what's broken and build what works.



Fear: Comparing the effectiveness of treatments and drugs will lead to rationing.
Fact #8: Comparative effectiveness research evaluates which treatments work best for different medical conditions and different patients. That's information based on science, not drug-company advertising. It helps your doctor and you decide what's right. That's not rationing. It's just being smart.



FEAR: The public option means socialized medicine.

FACT #9: No one will be forced into the public option - period. Like FedEx and the Post Office, you have the choice. This is not socialism, where the government runs the doctors and the hospitals.



Fear: The U.S. has the best health care in the world

Fact #10: The U.S. health care system ranks 37th overall in the world. In fact, there is a growing field called medical tourism, where Americans travel overseas for medical procedures that they can't afford at home.

[ShockediSay]

5. WOW - You nailed'em w/ facts extremely well researched

That's what we need to combat the paid-for parroted talking points of The Lobby & Their Lawyers


Kudos

[rusty charly]

6. FEAR: The public option will be unfair to private insurers.

Like the Republican Party, you had plenty of chance to NOT destroy your industry. You chose greed. Now it's "unfair"? Too bad.

[heppcatt]

7. I actually like it when an HMO person in a cubicle makes my medical choice for me......

It free's me up to think about who is the best american idol.

[abumbyanyothername]

8. I mean its really stupid, isn't it

(keep in mind that I start from the frame that profit motive is a terrible motive to begin with)

Why would you trust your health to someone who was unabashedly motivated solely by (and legally obligated to be motivated by) his or her own personal gain?

Its stupid. Healthcare must be divorced from profit motive so that the focus can be on healthier people, not more profit.

[geckosfeet]

9. Not just AN insurance agent - a whole company looking to maximize profits

by denying care and raising rates at the same time.

At least we know (presume) that the government, however bureaucratic and inept it may be, does not have a profit motive.