Well waddya know? A majority of Americans
believe "myths" about health care reform. The story
frequently puts the word "myth" in scare quotes and is careful to
qualify it as "assertions the White House has called myths" and
arguments that are "considered a myth by the White House." As
well they should, because many of them are just debatable points.
They should have gone one better and quoted experts arguing that
the some of these myths have at least some factual basis.
For example, I've argued
at length (both in the post itself and in the comments thread)
that if the final health care bill does not expressly prohibit
taxpayer funding of abortion, it will fund abortions over time.
This is
acknowleged by some Democratic supporters of the bill and is
implicit in the one amendment to clear a major House committee
that even nominally restricts the flow of taxpayer funds to
abortion.
The House bill sets up funding streams that are not clearly
covered by the Hyde Amendment. It is not subject to the same
restrictions as abortion coverage for federal civilian employees
or military personnel. The distinction between taxpayer funds and
government-collected premiums that the "myth" claim hangs upon is
at the very least debatable. And the Senate bill is less cagy
about abortion than the House bill.
Most of the "myths" are similar -- they describe debatable
effects of the health care bill. And in some cases, I think the
facts are more clearly on the side of the supposed "myth" makers.
I was recently on a radio talk show where the liberal guests were
in high dugeon over people calling Obamacare a "federal
government takeover of health care." But this is at worst a
hyperbolic claim. By creating a public option, imposing an
individual mandate, expanding regulations of who and what
insurers must cover, expanding Medicaid, and offering new
subsidies, this approach to health care reform at the very least
enlarges the federal government's role in health care. Would
straight single payer not qualify as a "federal government
takeover" because there are even more socialistic approaches?
Myths, they explained.
