Happy New Year To All
Do you Know the 7 Liberal Myths About Health Care ? To hear liberals in Congress tell the story, the American health care system is crumbling before our very eyes, the unwashed masses are desperate for a solution, and only the United States government can save us. But a recent poll of 1,200 registered U.S. voters provides a striking contrast between voter attitudes toward health care reform and some oft-repeated myths being pushed in media and on Capitol Hill.Here’s a look at seven of the most common myths, versus what American voters actually think: Myth #1: Americans are clamoring for health care reform. They aren’t. Only 5% of voters cite health care as either the top issue facing the country, as the biggest problem facing their daily lives or even as the greatest fear they have for themselves or their families. In fact when given a specific list of issues to choose from, health care comes in far behind the top concerns of 95% of American voters.Myth #2: The U.S. Health Care system needs a complete overhaul.Says who? Not American voters. Slightly more voters (47%) say that our health care system can be fixed with some minor reforms versus those who say it needs a radical overhaul (44%).Myth #3: Coverage for the uninsured is the major problem facing the U.S. Health Care system.By nearly a 3 to 1 margin, these voters see rising health care and health insurance costs as the biggest problem over too many being without insurance coverage. While government takeover advocates are fond of talking about millions of uninsured Americans, they generally fail to mention that many of those are uninsured by choice, or only temporarily uninsured. Yet this single misleading statistic remains a favorite of Congressional liberals as they make the case for a government takeover.Myth #4: Government, not free market competition, is the best way to reduce health care costs.Again, false. Clear majorities say that MORE competition among health care providers will do more to lower costs than increased government involvement. Further, pluralities believe that increased government involvement will cause health care costs and insurance premiums to go up. Americans undoubtedly feel this way because there are few (if any) examples where government involvement in any endeavor, let alone health care, actually caused prices to go down.Myth #5: Americans are more open/accepting of government-run health care solution.A clear and strong majority of voters prefer a private run health care system over a government-run system. Fully 55% of American voters say, if given the choice, they would opt for a private health care solution over a government solution. Only 37% would opt for a government takeover of health care.Myth #6: Americans understand we must sacrifice to ensure coverage for all.When pitted head to head, large majorities of voters (69%) choose a private run health care system that doesn’t cover all Americans, but protects everyone’s fundamental right to make their own health care choices, over a government-run system that covers everyone but restricts certain health care options (18%).Myth #7: Americans want a health care system more like Canada and/or Great Britain.Voters have mixed opinions about the Canadian and British health care systems with a sizeable number not having a firm opinion on either. But, more than 3 in 4 voters say they would most prefer to get treatment or health care services here in the U.S. over either Canada or Great Britain.Contrary to the conventional wisdom in Washington, voters are NOT willing to commit to a radical overhaul of our health care system. They are clearly suspicious of more government involvement and think it won’t drive down costs -- which is their biggest complaint about the current health care system. A clear and large majority still prefer a private-run over a government-run system. Moreover, when faced with the potential choice of giving up their fundamental health care rights to ensure universal coverage, majorities are unwilling to do so. In sharp contrast to these myths, American voters enthusiastically rally around the basic reform principles promoted by Conservatives for Patients’ Rights -- Choice, Competition, Accountability and Personal Responsibility, by overwhelming margins. For example, 87% of voters believe individuals should receive the same tax breaks as employers when buying health insurance. An astounding 97% want the freedom to choose their own doctor without restriction from government or insurance plans. And 87% of Americans want health care providers and doctors to publicly post their prices so they can shop and compare. As the health care debate continues, it is clear that Americans overwhelmingly demand free market health care. As others continue to push myths, Conservatives for Patients’ Rights will continue to educate Americans on the real agenda of Congressional health care reform, promote our key principles and serve as an early warning system against more government boards and power grabs.
My Canadian Healthcare Horror StoriesA Message for Americans
by Cathy LeBoeuf-Schouten
I was born in the same year that my government adopted socialized healthcare in Canada. I am an educated, middle-class woman and I have never known any kind of healthcare but the kind that is provided by our government-run system. It has been a nightmare for my family and me. The following stories, told in second person and based on my personal experiences with socialized healthcare in Canada, constitute my personal warning to Americans.
Imagine that you and your spouse, and three children under the age of six move to a new city and must find a family doctor. You are told at the local clinic that the doctors there are not accepting any new patients. (Canadian price controls have created shortages of everything when it comes to healthcare). The receptionist suggests that you go through the yellow pages and try to find a physician whose practice is not "full." You spend days, and weeks, doing this, and are repeatedly told "Sorry, we are not accepting new patients." You put your name on several waiting lists and persist in calling doctors’ offices.
Finally, a receptionist tells you that, while the doctor is still accepting new patients, he requires a full medical history and an interview with each family member before you can be added to his roster of patients. Based on the questions asked during the interviews, you come to understand that he is screening out sick or potentially sick people. You are all healthy, fortunately, so he takes you on as patients. Others are just out of luck.
There is a chronic shortage of doctors in Canada because price controls on doctors’ salaries have resulted in a "brain drain" where the best and brightest practice medicine in the U.S. and elsewhere, after being educated in Canada. In addition, the Canadian government cut medical school enrollment in half in the 1990s as a "cost-cutting measure," making the problem of doctor shortages much worse.
Next, imagine that all of a sudden your six-year-old begins showing what seems to be signs of an appendicitis attack, shortly after recuperating from chicken pox. You take him to a hospital emergency room and carry him in because he is unable to walk. There is no one to help you as you enter the building, so you must lumber along to the reception area. A nurse interviews you for a couple of minutes, asks you for the reason for your visit, and then takes your son’s government health card and asks you to fill out paperwork while your son writhes in pain in your lap.
You tell the nurse that your son must be seen by a doctor immediately – it’s an emergency! – as his condition is worsening by the minute. The nurse tells you, stone-faced, to go and sit in the waiting room to wait for a triage nurse. Having no choice, you do what you are told and join twenty or so others in line in front of you. You are given nothing to help make your son more comfortable – no damp facecloth, no bedpan for the vomit, nothing.
When a triage nurse finally strolls in a half hour later your son is too weak to respond to her and you begin to panic. Finally, a doctor appears and says it’s just a "bug" and that you should not be playing "armchair doctor" by "diagnosing" appendicitis. He orders some time-consuming tests anyway, because you have shown him that you are very, very angry. Six hours later the test results come back positive for appendicitis.
Your son is whisked away for an emergency appendectomy, after which the surgeon tells you that, had the surgery been delayed by another few minutes, he would probably have died. Your son’s appendix was gangrenous and on the verge of bursting. It reminds you of reading in the local news of three other people who were sent home from the emergency room, only to have their appendices burst and die. You are grateful that you were much more persistent and ornery than they apparently were.
Our Soviet-style emergency rooms have waiting rooms equipped with hard metal chairs, vending machines that sell junk food, and maybe a television in one corner. There is no access to any medical equipment, beds, or even stretchers. In the emergency room everyone passes through triage and is given a code based on a nurse’s cursory evaluation of their affliction. If you are not satisfied with the "care" that is provided there is nowhere else to go, except to an American hospital if you are close enough to the border and can afford to pay cash. Canadians know that if you call an ambulance you can bypass the 10–12 hour wait in the emergency room, but this drives up the costs of healthcare even further.
If there ever was a good fight, Americans, this is it. As we say in Canada, "Youse guys just gotta give ’er, eh!
Thank you for your responce
Moski Where have you been the last 5 mos. the USA now has a $12,000,000,000,000 deficit.Obama whats the goverment to run healthcare.Thing the government screw up already
1 medicare (Medicare Will Go Broke By 2018)2 social security (Social Security Broke By 2040)3 post office (Last year, the post office lost $2.8 billion, U.S. Postal Service going broke)4 amtrak Railroad(biden gives another 1.3billion to broke railway)5 GM the New Amtrak? 60billion to bankrupted auto dealers
We owe China about 2 & 1/2 trillion American dollars.
do you want to take the money from the people that earned it and give it all to those who haven't?
Have you every got a job from a poor person?
Glad to be Republican.Thank the Clintons, Cause without them ,Barack Obama Would not won the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election.Without the Clintons, Obama would not be U.S. President
Thats why i voted for John McCain And Thats why Barack Obama supported funding for abortions overseas
Your are welcome too .How death valley?
Obama has doubled the annaul deficit in One year
When he took ove there was a 10,800,000total deficit
With his programs he already inacted by 2012 we will be $17,000,000,000 in debt.How healthcare ,cap & trade etc more spending.We are broke get it .Do the math.Thats $56,000 debt for every person in the USA.China won't buy no more US bonds so we crank up the presses ,which leads to hyperinflation.Maybe we can sell them yellowstone or rushmore
Death Valley, Ca Very hot like 113 degrees or more
Live ,laugh,love,
First of all I do not know where you got this list of myths from.I have not heard Obama speak about any of them as specific needs of americans except the idea of universal coverage for all americans as a need to help with spiraling costs and also as just the basic decent thing .As someone who just lost her sister to Leukemia and she was not insured and had to go to a clinic and delayed getting diagnosed because she had no insurance I can tell you this need is GREAT!! This was a woman who had worked hard her whole life but then had become too ill to work full time and the part time jobs did not over benefits. So to say it is a choice for so many is just a sore subject for alot of us out there!!
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