What Senators Think They Know about Health Care ... Isn’t So

National Review ^ | December 14, 2009

[Steelfish]

December 14, 2009

What Senators Think They Know about Health Care ... Isn’t So.

By Ramesh Ponnuru

The Senate floor debate on health-care legislation has included a lot of confident assertions — many of them false.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D., Fla.), for example, said during floor debate that the uninsured impose a “hidden tax” of more than $1,000 per person. That claim, as regular readers of NRO already know, originated with a left-wing advocacy group. A Kaiser Family Foundation study debunked the group’s analysis, reaching an estimate closer to $200 per year for a family. The Congressional Budget Office has joined in the debunking.

Sen. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.) said that half of all bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. A 2006 study found that only 9 percent of bankruptcies were primarily the result of medical bills. The study where Durbin’s claim originated used very loose criteria to classify bankruptcies as medical in nature; even in that study, only 29 percent of those surveyed blamed health expenses for their bankruptcies. (See here for more.)

Majority leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) attributed 45,000 deaths each year to lack of insurance. Follow the links here to see why he’s wrong.

Durbin and Reid have both claimed that every day 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance. This claim originated with another left-wing outfit. It’s based on job losses at the peak of the recession. We’re not losing 14,000 jobs each day anymore. (Also, contrary to the senators’ implication, many of the people who have lost their jobs, and thus their health insurance, will get other jobs with health insurance.)

[Presbyterian Reporter]

I used this as an opportunity to send bill nelson an email—

http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm

I put the following in the body of the email”

Sen. Bill Nelson (D., Fla.), for example, said during floor debate that the uninsured impose a “hidden tax” of more than $1,000 per person. That claim, as regular readers of NRO already know, originated with a left-wing advocacy group. A Kaiser Family Foundation study debunked the group’s analysis, reaching an estimate closer to $200 per year for a family.

[Neoliberalnot]

Shocking, you mean politicians are not healthcare experts? I guess the RAT party is indeed made up of sniveling crooks hell-bent on controlling the lives and the most personal decisions of every citizen.

[Jacquerie]

From various posts here, various federal, state expenditures account for almost 50% of every retail health dollar.

I say that Health Care Central Planning is, as the lefties say, the root cause of our problems. More Health Care Central Planning will not correct the market distortions caused by Central Planning. Sheesh.

[combat_boots]

Which Critter has ever held corporate health care?

Bueller?