MYTH: Grassroots Protestors are
Disrupting Town Halls...
House Republican Leader John Boehner’s Office:
“Back home for the August recess, rank-and-file
Democratic Members of the House are facing a
backlash from their constituents.”
FACT: Lobbyist-Run Groups Are
Orchestrating Extremist Mobs
Republicans and well-funded special interest
groups are sending far-right extremists to local
town halls to stop any meaningful discussion of
Health Insurance Reform! Some of these mob
scenes have turned especially ugly -- including
the hanging of Members of Congress in effigy
and use of Nazi SS symbols.
MYTH: “Government-Encouraged
Euthanasia”....
House Republican Leader John Boehner claimed
the House bill “may start us down a treacherous
path toward government-encouraged euthanasia.”
FACT: The claim is “nonsense.”!
The bill never requires anyone to discuss
end-of-life care. Rather, the bill ensures medical
professionals who do offer this type of counseling
… are reimbursed for their time, just as … for
other types of counseling or medical services.
MYTH: Private Plans Outlawed...
Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) claimed on his
website that individual private health insurance
plans will be outlawed in 2013 under the
Democratic health care plan.
FACT: Private health insurance not
banned!
Individual policies will continue to be available,
but people will buy those policies through the
national health insurance exchange, which will
ensure that people with pre-existing conditions
will be able to get coverage. The House bill also
allows for existing policies to be grandfathered in,
so individual purchasers who like their coverage
will be able to keep it.
MYTH: 120 Million Americans Will Be
Deprived of Health Care...
Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.): Democrats’ plan “will
deprive roughly 120 million Americans of their
current health care coverage.”
FACT: “This claim is absolutely false”!
The 120 million number Pence cites comes from
the Lewin Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of
insurance giant UnitedHealthCare, which based
its numbers on several public-option scenarios
that are dramatically different than what
Democrats have proposed. The Congressional
Budget Office estimates that in 2013 about 11
million—NOT 120 million—Americans will end up
voluntarily enrolling in the public option, and none
of them will be “deprived” of coverage.
MYTH: There is a Republican Plan...
Minority Whip Cantor: “The Republican plan”
provides “access to affordable basic coverage.”
FACT: “Republicans have yet to
coalesce around a single plan.”
Even though the House Republicans’ “Health
Care Solutions Group” guaranteed a counter
proposal, they have refused to release a plan to
the public.
