Health Reform Scaremongering

As health reform starts to build momentum, there’s a lot of half-truths, untruths, and misdirection attempts floating out there in the ether. In a recent post, Maggie Mahar does a terrific job of dismantling some of the more pernicious falsehoods/lies coming from the GOP. Here are a couple highlights:
– Roy Blunt, R MO, is “concerned that . . . [the government] will eventually push out the private health care plans that millions of Americans enjoy today.” Why? As I’ve noted before, and as Maggie notes in her post, if private insurers can’t beat Medicare, they shouldn’t be in business.
– Talking about the potential for a government-sponsored health plan, Blunt said “This could cause your employer to simply stop offering coverage, hoping the government will pick up the slack.” Why would a government option have that effect? Maggie says:
“Under virtually every progressive proposal for reform, if your employer stops offering you coverage, he has to pay into a pool that helps fund the public-sector plan. Many employers would rather continue offering their own coverage because they know their employees prefer a known (what they have now) to an unknown (a new government plan.) Moreover, they realize that if they drop benefits, and the amount they pay into the national pool does not equal the amount they are now spending on health benefits, some highly-valued employees will expect a pay raise to make up the difference.”
I’d add that even if employers did drop insurance, how would that be different from today, where many employers are dropping coverage because it is unaffordable? Oh, the workers actually would be able to get insurance. Is that bad, Mr Blunt?
There’s a lot more here; Maggie’s done a great job debunking the BS from Blunt. His logic is faulty, data wrong, and facts missing. But he’s probably pretty effective, at least with those who love to bash government as completely, totally, and always incompetent.
And after the last eight years, who could blame them?