True/false quiz on health care reform
Vetting the Health Care Rhetoric
By Megan McCarthy, Drew Armstrong and Alex Wayne, CQ Staff
As politicians and interest groups try to shape the outcome of the health care overhaul, they've offered interpretations that are so wildly different that truth sometimes seems to be taking a vacation.
Some — like the contention that a House health care overhaul (HR 3200) would create "death panels" that decide end-of-life care — are false. Some are misleading, and others are true.
Many of the claims are being floated by advocacy groups, then amplified on the Internet and at town hall events hosted by members of Congress. Lawmakers have contributed to the rhetoric, as well.
The majority of the claims deal with the House bill that awaits floor action in September. The Senate is not as far along in the process with its legislative proposal. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has approved a draft bill, but the Finance Committee is still working on its version. The lack of a unified Senate approach has led proponents and opponents to focus much of their criticism on the House measure.
The following examination of health care claims and their sources is not comprehensive but provides an overview of the commonly recited talking points in the debate.
Claim: The House bill would create a government committee to decide what treatments or benefits patients may receive in a retooled health care system.
Source: The office of House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, made the claim in a news release. It also was found in a Web publication by the group Family Security Matters.
Misleading. A committee would make recommendations on what sorts of minimum benefits insurers should be required to provide, but these standards are a floor, not a ceiling. Insurers could offer more benefits if they chose, perhaps to gain a competitive advantage to draw customers, but they could not offer less.
Claim: Under the House bill, health care will be rationed, especially care for seniors.
Source: A number of congressional Republicans and conservative groups have made this claim. It's been repeated online and in some television advertisements by groups such as Patients United Now, which is funded in part by another right-leaning interest group, Americans United for Prosperity.
False. The House bill says almost the opposite — that insurers can't charge patients more than $5,000 a year for an individual or $10,000 for a family toward the cost of their own health care. It does not set limits on how much the plans can spend on each patient, however. As for seniors, they would still be covered by Medicare, and the bill does not set any benefit limits for that program.
(Continued here.)
By Megan McCarthy, Drew Armstrong and Alex Wayne, CQ Staff
As politicians and interest groups try to shape the outcome of the health care overhaul, they've offered interpretations that are so wildly different that truth sometimes seems to be taking a vacation.
Some — like the contention that a House health care overhaul (HR 3200) would create "death panels" that decide end-of-life care — are false. Some are misleading, and others are true.
Many of the claims are being floated by advocacy groups, then amplified on the Internet and at town hall events hosted by members of Congress. Lawmakers have contributed to the rhetoric, as well.
The majority of the claims deal with the House bill that awaits floor action in September. The Senate is not as far along in the process with its legislative proposal. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has approved a draft bill, but the Finance Committee is still working on its version. The lack of a unified Senate approach has led proponents and opponents to focus much of their criticism on the House measure.
The following examination of health care claims and their sources is not comprehensive but provides an overview of the commonly recited talking points in the debate.
Claim: The House bill would create a government committee to decide what treatments or benefits patients may receive in a retooled health care system.
Source: The office of House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, made the claim in a news release. It also was found in a Web publication by the group Family Security Matters.
Misleading. A committee would make recommendations on what sorts of minimum benefits insurers should be required to provide, but these standards are a floor, not a ceiling. Insurers could offer more benefits if they chose, perhaps to gain a competitive advantage to draw customers, but they could not offer less.
Claim: Under the House bill, health care will be rationed, especially care for seniors.
Source: A number of congressional Republicans and conservative groups have made this claim. It's been repeated online and in some television advertisements by groups such as Patients United Now, which is funded in part by another right-leaning interest group, Americans United for Prosperity.
False. The House bill says almost the opposite — that insurers can't charge patients more than $5,000 a year for an individual or $10,000 for a family toward the cost of their own health care. It does not set limits on how much the plans can spend on each patient, however. As for seniors, they would still be covered by Medicare, and the bill does not set any benefit limits for that program.
(Continued here.)
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