Oh the things people believe…

From this website:

Majority of Americans Believe Health Care Reform ‘Myths’

• 67 percent of respondents believe that wait times for health care services, such as surgery, will increase (91 percent of Republicans, 37 percent of Democrats, 72 percent of Independents).

Mmm… there may be some truth in this, at least initially. If you have more people using the system, there will be a rough period while the system changes and acclimates. I can’t believe that wait time for surgeries would be increased dramatically though, I could see wait times for general care/health clinics increasing though. Wait times are a major complaint in Canada, but we have a “single payer” system up here. Drastically different.

• About five out of 10 believe the federal government will become directly involved in making personal health care decisions (80 percent of Republicans, 25 percent of Democrats, 56 percent of Independents).

HA! Who really makes your personal health care decisions now? In an ideal world your health care decisions would be made in consultation between you and your health care practitioner(s) (this could include your family doctor, specialists and any complementary/alternative practitioners that you may visit). As it is, a lot of the choices that you have in your health care decisions are dictated by companies whose main motivation is to turn a profit. Yes, that is a highly jaded and highly simplified comment.

• Roughly six out of 10 Americans believe taxpayers will be required to pay for abortions (78 percent of Republicans, 30 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of Independents)

No, just no. There are laws against this. I think this comes from some fear of surpluses being shifted over to programs which perform and support abortion (eg. Planned Parenthood). I find it more than a bit distasteful that the same people who are so scared of the government making personal health care decisions for them are advocating that the government make personal (reproductive) health care decisions for others. My own personal thought is that a woman (or couple) should not be prevented (be it access to facilities or financial constraints) from having a legal abortion (or accessing contraceptives).

• 46 percent believe reforms will result in health care coverage for all illegal immigrants (66 percent of Republicans, 29 percent of Democrats, 43 percent of Independents).

How did this one sneak in there? Smacks of fear mongering. Again, what is being proposed is not a “single payer system” (and even in Canada you have to either buy private health insurance or you go without if you are eligible for one of the provincial health insurance plans). The US gov’t is not “giving” health coverage to people in the public plan, they are purchasing it. I have no idea what the regulation would be on illegal immigrants opting in to such a plan. I’m guessing if they do not have a legal status in the US they will probably avoid any actions that would encourage to deport them though.

• 54 percent believe the public option will increase premiums for Americans with private health insurance (78 percent of Republicans, 28 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of Independents).

Increased competition means increased cost? Really? I thought it was the opposite. ‘Nuff said.

• Five out of 10 think cuts will be made to Medicare in order to cover more Americans (66 percent of Republicans, 37 percent of Democrats, 44 percent of Independents).

I wonder about this one… if this is referring to what I think it is referring to… (shifting money away from the Medicare program to subsidize the “public health insurance option”) then this one is a tough one to answer because any cuts to the Medicare program are not popular. Period. That being said, if unnecessary tests (tests that do not improve health and are not needed to diagnose an illness) and referrals/visits were eliminated from a program, there would be a natural surplus available in said program that could be used effectively in other programs. Its not a cut, per se, but it is semantics my friend, semantics.

The fact of the matter is… at present we spend far more than any other country on healthcare and we aren’t reaping the benefits of this. There need to be changes! It is far more important to get something that might not work perfectly in place than to continue on the path we are currently on.

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