Government “death panels” will decide who deserves health care benefits.
Fact: “Death panels” don’t exist.
“Death panels” were named as the “Lie of the Year” by Politifact.com, a site run by the St. Petersburg Times. Death panels never were and never will be a part of any health care reform effort. They simply don’t exist. According to Politifact, “Of all the falsehoods and distortions in the political discourse this year, one stood out from the rest... that the government would set up boards to determine whether seniors and the disabled were worthy of care.”
Source: "PolitiFact's Lie of the Year: 'Death panels,'" Politifact, December 18, 2009.
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Small businesses can’t afford health care reform right now.
Fact: Tax credits will make it more affordable for small businesses to provide coverage to workers.
Small business owners need health care reform more than anyone. Before the passage of this historic legislation, costs were spiraling out of control. Without the new law, small business owners would have shed jobs at a rate of 178,000 per year by 2018. According to Jonathan Gruber of Small Business Majority, “costs to small business owners would more than double from $156 billion in 2009 to $339 billion in 2018.” The Affordable Care Act will lower the premiums small business owners pay, and provide them with $40 billion in tax credits to help them insure their employees.
Sources: "Health reform starts now: 2010 tax breaks," CNN Money, 4/13/10; “A Presentation on Why We Need Health Care Reform,” Center for American Progress, June 10, 2010; Jonathan Gruber, Small Business Majority, “The Economic Impact of Healthcare Reform on Small Business,” June 11, 2009.
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Health care reform weakens Medicare and hurts seniors.
Fact: Reform increases Medicare solvency, cuts out of pocket costs and provides seniors with annual preventative care doctors visits.
By attacking fraud and waste in Medicare, the new health care law will finally allow seniors to get the care they deserve. The new law will stop overpayments to Medicare Advantage providers, and instead the money will be reinvested in primary care benefits to patients. Additionally, free access to preventive care and prescription drug cost assistance — including a $250 credit to help cover the cost of the infamous prescription drug donut hole — will help seniors, not hurt them. By reforming the system now, the new health care plan will allow the Medicare trust fund to avoid bankruptcy in 2017.
Source: "Administration ready to send out first doughnut holes checks," The Hill, 5/27/10; "Health Care Reform Explained: The New Health Care Law and Extending the Life of Medicare While Saving Money," AARP Bulletin, 8/30/10
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Health care reform will bankrupt the country.
Fact: The health care bill will reduce the federal deficit.
Experts agree: Health care reform will save money. Time and time again, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the non-partisan budget office, has determined that health care reform will save money, reducing the deficit by $138 billion over the next decade and by $1.3 trillion in the decade after. In fact, according to a letter recently released by the CBO, repealing the Affordable Care Act would increase the federal deficit by $455 billion dollars in 10 years.
Source: The Washington Post, July 1, 2010; CBO, http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/118xx/doc11820/CrapoLtr.pdf
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Health care reform represents a government takeover that will eliminate private insurance.
Fact: Private Insurance will cover more Americans than ever before.
Under the new health care law, most Americans will remain on private insurance plans. Before the new law passed, 56% of non-elderly Americans received coverage through their employers. In 2019, the same percentage — around 159 million non-elderly citizens — will have health coverage from their employer, according to Congressional Budget Office projections.
Source: Congressional Budget Office;” A Presentation on Why We Need Health Care Reform,” Center for American Progress, June 10, 2010.
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