From the week's Walton Sun
www.waltonsun.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From total truth to pants on fire, let’s bust some health care myths
Last weekend was great. After the coldest winter since the Ice Age, Saturday was a blue-sky, Chamber of Commerce day. At The Seaside Rep’s Pookie’s Patsy Party in Midtown Seagrove, Dread Clampitt closed their set with “Black Rose,” I had never heard a band cover it but I remembered the lyrics.
On Sunday, health care reform legislation passed and Monday morning the sky had not fallen. Then the stock market closed Monday afternoon higher — hardly a harbinger of socialism running amok.
There is a lot of disinformation from both sides regarding health care. The Pulitzer prize-winning PolitiFacts.com and The Walton Sun combine to bust a few myths.
Here’s a little secret that no politician — liberal, conservative, Democratic or Republican — wants you to know. Even with the legislation that passed the House of Representatives, the fiscal challenge of rising health care costs is still being avoided. Neither Democratic nor Republican politicians seem willing to face head-on the hard and difficult choices our country must make.
Every problem can’t be solved with a tax cut, and costs of government programs can’t be ignored.
Here’s another little secret for you. If you are currently receiving government-subsidized insurance — a.k.a. Medicare — there is no way that gravy train can continue to run at its current speed unless someone pays higher taxes. With or without health care reform, unless benefits are reduced, taxes will be going up. Shoot me if you like, but I’m just the messenger. It’s math.
Bottom line: Americans can’t handle the truth.
According to Minority Leader John Boehner, the legislation would “force Americans off their current health coverage and on to a government-run plan.” The truth is most Americans will see no change at all in their current insurance plans. Mr. Boehner is simply wrong and a greater threat to him is the danger tanning beds pose. President Obama, meanwhile, claims that preventative care provisions in health care reform will save money. The truth is individuals will save money by early treatment but extra screening procedures drive up overall costs.
PolitFact.com heaps special scorn on lies that go beyond the pale.
Nancy Pfotenhauer gets the “Pants on Fire” award for her insistence that millions of Americans will lose their health insurance coverage under health care reform. The opposite is true. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, 94 percent of Americans will have health insurance. Another “Pants on Fire” prize goes to a chain e-mail that erroneously purports a “Health Choices Commissioner will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None." There will be boards that will make recommendations on a general basis but they will not evaluate individual cases or deny anyone coverage.
Health insurance costs are a constant complaint. Proponents often tout that reform will lower insurance costs. President Obama said, “The costs for families (in the individual market) for the same type of coverage that they’re currently receiving would go down 14 percent to 20 percent.” PolitFacts rated that a half truth. While costs may decrease for some plans, people (like my family) who buy highdeductible, lower-cost plans will see their premiums increase because they will have to buy insurance plans that cover more.
Any reform is akin to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic unless insurance costs are contained.
If our insurance premiums continue their current trajectory, my wife and I will be paying over $46,000 annually by the time I am Medicare-eligible. The Republican plan touted by Rep. Paul Ryan would replace Medicare for people under 55 with government vouchers for private insurance. Mr. Ryan needs to put down whatever he is smoking if this is the alternative.
If our daughter lived in any other industrialized nation her pre-existing condition (Crohn’s Disease) would be treated so that she could enjoy a normal life. However in this nation, which I still believe is the greatest ever, she does not qualify for individual health insurance. Our alternatives are A). we bankrupt ourselves; B). let her go untreated, or C). hope she qualifies for group coverage.
The debate should be what kind of a nation we want to be.
Buz Livingston is a certified financial planner. He operates Livingston Financial Planning Inc. focusing on hourly financial planning and investment management. Contact him directly at 850-267-1068 or at buz@ LivingstonFinancial.net .
BUZ LIVINGSTON
Just Plain Talk
www.waltonsun.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From total truth to pants on fire, let’s bust some health care myths
Last weekend was great. After the coldest winter since the Ice Age, Saturday was a blue-sky, Chamber of Commerce day. At The Seaside Rep’s Pookie’s Patsy Party in Midtown Seagrove, Dread Clampitt closed their set with “Black Rose,” I had never heard a band cover it but I remembered the lyrics.
On Sunday, health care reform legislation passed and Monday morning the sky had not fallen. Then the stock market closed Monday afternoon higher — hardly a harbinger of socialism running amok.
There is a lot of disinformation from both sides regarding health care. The Pulitzer prize-winning PolitiFacts.com and The Walton Sun combine to bust a few myths.
Here’s a little secret that no politician — liberal, conservative, Democratic or Republican — wants you to know. Even with the legislation that passed the House of Representatives, the fiscal challenge of rising health care costs is still being avoided. Neither Democratic nor Republican politicians seem willing to face head-on the hard and difficult choices our country must make.
Every problem can’t be solved with a tax cut, and costs of government programs can’t be ignored.
Here’s another little secret for you. If you are currently receiving government-subsidized insurance — a.k.a. Medicare — there is no way that gravy train can continue to run at its current speed unless someone pays higher taxes. With or without health care reform, unless benefits are reduced, taxes will be going up. Shoot me if you like, but I’m just the messenger. It’s math.
Bottom line: Americans can’t handle the truth.
According to Minority Leader John Boehner, the legislation would “force Americans off their current health coverage and on to a government-run plan.” The truth is most Americans will see no change at all in their current insurance plans. Mr. Boehner is simply wrong and a greater threat to him is the danger tanning beds pose. President Obama, meanwhile, claims that preventative care provisions in health care reform will save money. The truth is individuals will save money by early treatment but extra screening procedures drive up overall costs.
PolitFact.com heaps special scorn on lies that go beyond the pale.
Nancy Pfotenhauer gets the “Pants on Fire” award for her insistence that millions of Americans will lose their health insurance coverage under health care reform. The opposite is true. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, 94 percent of Americans will have health insurance. Another “Pants on Fire” prize goes to a chain e-mail that erroneously purports a “Health Choices Commissioner will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None." There will be boards that will make recommendations on a general basis but they will not evaluate individual cases or deny anyone coverage.
Health insurance costs are a constant complaint. Proponents often tout that reform will lower insurance costs. President Obama said, “The costs for families (in the individual market) for the same type of coverage that they’re currently receiving would go down 14 percent to 20 percent.” PolitFacts rated that a half truth. While costs may decrease for some plans, people (like my family) who buy highdeductible, lower-cost plans will see their premiums increase because they will have to buy insurance plans that cover more.
Any reform is akin to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic unless insurance costs are contained.
If our insurance premiums continue their current trajectory, my wife and I will be paying over $46,000 annually by the time I am Medicare-eligible. The Republican plan touted by Rep. Paul Ryan would replace Medicare for people under 55 with government vouchers for private insurance. Mr. Ryan needs to put down whatever he is smoking if this is the alternative.
If our daughter lived in any other industrialized nation her pre-existing condition (Crohn’s Disease) would be treated so that she could enjoy a normal life. However in this nation, which I still believe is the greatest ever, she does not qualify for individual health insurance. Our alternatives are A). we bankrupt ourselves; B). let her go untreated, or C). hope she qualifies for group coverage.
The debate should be what kind of a nation we want to be.
Buz Livingston is a certified financial planner. He operates Livingston Financial Planning Inc. focusing on hourly financial planning and investment management. Contact him directly at 850-267-1068 or at buz@ LivingstonFinancial.net .
BUZ LIVINGSTON
Just Plain Talk
Last edited by a moderator:
