ONE Of The Main Differences Is FACTS. (Resources to Counter Health Care Reform Lies)

[Hissyspit]

This was originally a post in a thread started by Op Ed News editor Steven Leser about his appearance on Fox News concerning health care/insurance reform. Steven wanted to emphasize how the mob/hooligan tactics are NOT the same as the anti-war tactics used by the left during the Bush administration. My post, in addition to giving him some pointers, was that our side is CORRECT with the facts and the other side is not, for the most part. Indeed, these misdirection and misrepresentation and rumor propaganda campaigns are deliberate. They don't CARE about the facts.

That is only one of the differences, of course. Anti-war protesters, for the most part, were using civil disobedience tactics, not mob intimidation tactics.

nc4bo suggested that the resources from my post should be posted separately, so, at her suggestion, I'm doing that here. I found most of these resources from other DUers, so I do not mean to take credit for them:


One of the main differences is FACTS.

Edited on Mon Aug-10-09 02:45 PM by Hissyspit

These people at the town halls don't know what they are talking about.

You might bring up that the right is using rumor propaganda, very popular with the Nazis.

These people are NOT using the same tactics as Code Pink. Code Pink never disrupted town hall meetings and the right of other citizens to ask questions of their politicians (as far as I know).

By the way don't forget to mention the FAKE TOWN HALLS under Bush.

Research the groups behind the disrupters. This might help:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6265177

Inside Story On Town Hall Riots: Right-Wing Shock Troops Do Corporate America's Dirty Work

Dick Armey's FreedomWorks
ResistNet


This stuff is great, too:

Regarding the Falsehood that the Government Will Encourage Old People to Die:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/euthanasia.asp


Other Resources:

http://www.healthreform.gov/

http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/?p=1245

http://www.hdw-inc.com/walkingjackets.htm

http://www.slate.com/id/2220222/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/

http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/facts


Suggestions on How to Run an Effective Town Hall Meeting and Counter the Disrupters:

Town Hall Disrupters - THESE TACTICS CAN BE COUNTERED Please Forward This Information

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6217096


Regarding the False and Misleading Points in the Email Currently Making the Rounds:

http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/2009/07/deconstructing-the-right-wing-lies-health-bill.html

July 28, 2009

Deconstructing the Right Wing Lies on the Health Insurance Bill

The right's lies about the current health insurance proposals before Congress have rarely been compiled in such concise form before.

What follows is an article from the Right Wing blog ChronWatch.

Reponses are in red italics:
Page After Page of Reasons to Hate ObamaCare

By Alan Caruba

The problem with the article is, there's something missing, such as context. See, the writer is expecting the reader to take everything as gospel, and agree that it's bad, without any sort of explanation. It's a list of all of the things that are wrong with the current state of the health care reform bill before Congress. If you'd like to follow along, feel free to click here to go to the bill itself. In fact, I would encourage you to look at it for yourself; it's an easy way to learn what's actually in it, without having to read through all of the legalese.

We're not called Please Cut the Crap for no reason. Below each item the right wing assures readers we're supposed to hate, I've inserted context, and explained why you really shouldn't hate it. Unless you should. All of my responses are italicized and printed in red, so that you can tell whose words are whose.

I'll warn you, this is a long one, but it's an important one, so get a glass of tea, print this out, and read it to everyone who spews one of these talking points, because this really does touch on pretty much all of the right's talking points. And now you'll be able to refute them. Isn't that cool?

Now, let's continue with the article.

Here are just a few very good reasons to hate ObamaCare:

• Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!

First of all, it starts on page 21, not 22, and it simply mandates a study of risk on the part of all companies that choose to provide self-insurance, to make sure they are capitalized properly. This is something that private insurance companies are required to do; it's to protect the consumer. Say you work at a company with their own health insurance system; how would you like to find out after you've received a $100,000 bill for a hospital stay, that the insurance pool can't pay the bill?

This is also important because when they can't pay the bills, then everyone else with insurance ends up picking up the slack. Got that? That's the reason health insurance premiums have more than doubled in the last ten years, and are scheduled to double again in the next ten, if nothing changes.

Anyway, why should companies acting as health insurance companies be allowed to operate under different rules than insurance companies? Isn't that unfair competition?

• Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!

The section actually starts on page 26, and it's entitled:

SEC. 122. ESSENTIAL BENEFITS PACKAGE DEFINED.

There is absolutely NO section in there, from page 26 through page 30, that indicates rationing of any kind. Looking at Page 29 specifically, it contains a section called "Annual Limitation." A-HA! See? It's a LIMITATION! That's the same as rationing, right? Didn't they admit rationing?

- snip -

• Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.

This is a phenomenally stupid complaint from a right wing ideological perspective, and it lays bare the moral bankruptcy in their arguments against universal health care. These are the same people who are always touting competition and choice as the most important aspects of capitalism. The point of the insurance exchange is to give people an obvious and transparent choice of health insurance options. A private insurance company can participate and offer their wares alongside the public option, if they so choose. If they don't want to participate, they're free to conduct business as usual, and they won't have to conform to any government rules. Well, except for the ones they must already conform with, whenever the Bush Administration's not in office. They've always had to conform to government rules to participate in Medicare, and I don't see any of them dropping out of business for that.

- snip -

• Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No “judicial review” is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.

This is also extremely inaccurate, if not an outright lie. There is no "price-fixing." First of all, the bill refers to the same rate-setting statutes the government has always followed with Medicare and Medicaid. It has to do with the rates they pay for procedures, and the process includes medical providers and follows them very closely. The doctors and medical corporations still set the prices in that system, and private insurers will be free to negotiate higher or lower payment prices if they wish. They don't pay the same as Medicare and Medicaid for procedures now, and no one's complaining about "price fixing."

You know what? This isn't just inaccurate, it's dishonest.

- snip -

• Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families.

Again, an absolute lie. The page number is 146, not 126, which is a quibble. But employers are not required to pay healthcare bills for anyone. IF they CHOOSE to participate in the public insurance system, they are required to autoenroll employees in the insurance, unless the employee chooses to opt out. But the INSURANCE pays the bills, not the employers. Employers will not be required to pay for the procedures themselves, unless they opt to self-insure. But that's hardly a mandate, is it?

MORE AT THE ORIGINAL LINK

[Bozita]

1. Thank you. K&R

[Bozita]

2. kick