Mindless, fearful perpetuate health care untruths

I have said before that I am no expert on the Health Care Bill. I’m neither strongly for or against it. I think it does have more potential for good than evil, and I believe we have the ability to wait a bit and give it a chance before destroying it. It may, in fact, be a good thing.

I can tell you, flat out, what I greatly oppose, however. That is mindless repetition of false or distorted claims about the bill. If the opposition wishes to debate the bill on its actual merits, that’s well and good. No one from that side appears willing to do so, however.

Whoever or whatever is continually feeding the endless memorized mantra is not totally to blame, either. It’s the mindless acceptance of false claims, the fierce embrace of misinformation, the surrender of logical thought and investigation by seemingly normal people which is puzzling, if not frightening. Hollywood might call it, “The Walk of the Zombies.”

A recent letter to the editor of the Mogollon Connection from a Mr. Preston Morris is a prime example. Now, most likely, Mr. Morris is a well liked good citizen who loves his country. I’m sure his neighbors would tell you that he is a good man. He has, however, obviously come under the spell of the repetitious but empty chants against the Health Care Bill.

Let’s examine his statements: He states that The Health Care Bill passed by Congress “forces” everyone to carry health insurance “approved” by The Secretary of Health and Human Services. There isn’t room here to dispute this in detail, but several points are distorted. First, this only really affects people who do not presently have health insurance, and subsidies are available for individuals who can‘t pay. New pools of coverage will be available, either through employers who receive incentives, or independent sources.

To some extent, this resembles the requirement for all motorists to purchase auto insurance. Overall, it saves billions of dollars by requiring individuals to pay or partly pay for the vast number of instances which are being paid for by state and federal governments today. Emergency treatment at hospitals, for example, must be paid by governments when a person does not have insurance. This is a huge and growing burden on government, which ultimately must depend upon tax dollars for the funds. As far as “approved” goes, this is plain common sense. All the major insurance companies would be the “approved” - no scams allowed which might simply have an appearance of legitimacy.

Mr. Morris’ arguments are contradictory and self serving. On the one hand he notes that Medicare is going broke. On the other, however, he criticizes an effort to cut its spending. As the boy said who received a stack of hay for his Christmas present, “There’s a pony in there, somewhere.”

The assertion that "a Presidential Executive Order is not law" is completely incorrect. The Constitution recognizes it as such.

As for the “true cost” of the Health Care Bill, no one knows for certain. For every alarmist who predicts financial doom, there is another study or report from the Budget Office that a reasonable potential exists for an overall reduction in the Deficit. Logic would appear to be on the side of those who predict that more individual participation in health care costs will result in less subsidy by the government. In that regard, the plan actually calls for less government control, not more. A lot depends upon our GNP growth and a resulting ability to move closer to a balanced budget. That’s a completely separate conversation.

Finally, Mr. Morris repeats an old claim which has been refuted many times. There is absolutely no provision in the Health Care Bill to tax a homeowner 3.8 per cent on the sale of his house. This blatant scare tactic is effective only with individuals who don’t take the trouble to check it out. Apparently Mr. Morris hasn’t been bothered to do so.

Perhaps he is referring to a tax on a profit above $500,000. The law presently allows you to keep, tax free, all your profit up to $500,000. That has not changed. All those making over $500,000 on a house sale these days, however, should beware.

The very fabric of what America stands for is ripped when we substitute emotional rage for intelligent common sense. In a blind “sour grapes” rush to overthrow an administration elected by a clear majority, a great effort is being made to “take back” some kind of perceived loss.

Anyone truly wishing to take back the eight years of the previous administration has a short term memory problem. The most vocal critics of our President today are the very ones who used the term “traitor” for people criticizing the previous President. Can you say hypocrite?

Mr. Morris sees the glass as half empty and draining fast. Many would say that new spectacles might lessen his anxiety. A self induced fear is felt just as strongly as a real one.

If we ever reach a point when we can debate real issues and not fabrications, we stand a chance of making real progress towards solving our real problems. That begins with each person at least being willing to fairly and reasonably investigate illogical sounding claims, not merely swallowing them whole and passing them along.