Get the truth ab out the Healthcare Act.

Bust the Myths on Affordable Healthcare Act!

Before jumping to conclusion on the Affordable Healthcare Act, please make sure that you are well informed.  Be sure to attend the Healthcare Forum on Thursday, September 26 at the Arcada Theater at 6:30pm. Here are some good information from my friend Joni.

  Why Myths Are Hard to Shake

 Sarah Palin was notorious for using cutesy words and phrases to conjure up negative emotions toward another candidate or issue, like, the Affordable Healthcare Act. She claimed that the health legislation being drafted by Democrats at the time would create “death panels” in which government bureaucrats would decide whether disabled and elderly patients were “worthy of healthcare”. Despite being debunked by fact-checkers and mainstream outlets, this myth persists!

Why is the death panel myth so hard to shake?

 One reason is that most people have a very poor understanding of the complex law. The Affordable Healthcare Act attempts to improve healthcare quality through changing the way hospitals and doctors are reimbursed. Out is the old fee-for-service plan and the movement toward reimbursing for value in health care. Redesigning the payment system is a fundamentally different approach to containing costs.

Another reason the myth is hard to shake is because the law calls for the establishment of a 15-member committee called the independent payment advisory board (or IPAB). It is this board that has been given the responsibility of recommending cost-saving measures to the Secretary of Health and Human Services if the expenses rise too quickly. This board will consist of independent health care experts who are forbidden, BY LAW, from proposing changes that will affect Medicare coverage OR quality, nor will they be allowed to “ration” health care! In other words, they are a far cry from being considered the “Death Panel Board”. The law makes sure that the IPAB is not allowed to make policy but instead to simply make recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

 Finally, these myths are hard to overcome because of repeated use of the words “death panels” and personal opinions, instead of facts. In the August 15th edition of the SunDay newspaper, Jim Doll of Huntley wants you to believe that 70 year olds, under the ACA, will be unable to continue having PSA tests. The truth is, 10 to 15 years ago (pre-Obama), urologists were telling their patients that after 70, PSA tests were not necessary because at that age, cancers are so slow growing that men would die of something else before they would die from prostrate cancer.

It is difficult for people to see the world clearly, when their vision is biased by scary words, such as “death panels” and by their own pre-existing attitudes. Change is hard, and we fear what we do not know or understand. I think you will find the following forum on the Affordable Care Act and Illinois Exchanges beneficial for answering your questions….

                                          September 26, 2013

                                      Arcada Theater in St. Charles

                                             6:30-10:00 p.m.

 The agenda includes presentations, a screening of the movie Sicko followed by a short discussion.

 Remember…The Affordable Care Act has survived a Supreme Court ruling and a re-election campaign.

Joni Lindgren