Over the course of the health care reform debate, the two sides have accused each other of misleading the public and flat out lying. During the President’s State of the Union Address, Representative Joe Wilson broke House protocol and yelled out “You Lie!” It is typical of politicians to say whatever is necessary to the media to garner support from their constituents; as the saying goes, you never stop campaigning. Despite that, with the health care debate, it seems there is more on the line than the typical political showmanship.
The democrats do not just have a majority in both the Senate and House, they supposedly have the numbers to pass whatever legislation they want to. They have used those numbers this first year of the political session to pass “reform” legislation they feel is vital to getting this country “back on track,” fiscally and socially. Two key pieces were the stimulus package and the reshaping of the hate crimes bill to include homosexuals, neither of which conservative Republicans approved of or would have passed if they were still in power.
Even with those two pieces of legislation, the Democrats still seem to be searching for the major, key piece of work telling the public we are changing course from the previous administration. Health care has been made out to be that defining legislation. President Obama touted it and congressional men and women regurgitated it throughout the Presidential campaign. However, with elections taking place in one year for all of the House of Representatives and one third of the senate, the Democrats need to act on their promise of change or the public could give the republicans more numbers.
With so much on the line, both parties have increased their “politics.” Politifact.com, a political watchdog website devoted to reporting whether politicians’ remarks or true or false, have devoted a category to the debate on health care. From just the statements they have analyzed thirty-five percent of the statements were rated false or “pants on fire.” If you include the half truths and “barely truths” politicians usually use to shape the debate, the number sky rockets to close to seventy percent.
That may not surprise people with the amount of media coverage devoted to calling the two sides out on their mistruths, particularly Fox News and MSNBC who each all but labeled themselves the conservative and liberal news channels, respectively. The misleading attempts do not end with congress; it expands to the executive branch, advocacy groups, and even the public with chain emails and blogs.
The debate has recently centered around the health insurance industry with proponents criticizing them of being criminals and ripping off citizens in order take turn huge profits. President Obama said in an evening press conference, “There have been reports just over the last couple of days of insurance companies making record profits, right now.” Politifact did a little investigating and found out none of the insurance companies were “making record profits.” They found the largest publicly traded insurance company, UnitedHealth, reported $859 million in net income. (They went with net income because the President said profit.) The profit is large, but no where close to being “record” profits. For the same quarter in 2007, the company posted a $1.23 billion net income. Politifact checked other insurance companies and found similar results. While they did report profits that does not put them in risk of going out of business, they are nowhere close to where they have been in the past. Politifact gave Obama a false rating for that statement.
Even MSNBC ran an article on October 25 countering the same claim. They found health insurance companies typically have about six percent profit margins annually, but the most recent annual reports have them just above two percent. On the Fortune 500 list of top industries, health insurance ranked 35th behind other health industries such as drugs, medical products, and services which were all in the top ten. Other products had annual profit margins of 7.5 percent for Tupperware Brands, 6.1 percent for Hershey, and 8.5 percent for Yum Brands (KFC, Pizza hut, Taco Bell).
Insurance companies, by their financial reports, are not the villains health care reform proponents make them out to be, but with any significant change, you have to have a villain the public can look at to say yes we need to fix this and stop them. It is hard to win a battle against the government when it comes to perceptions, the government plays that game constantly with approval ratings and campaigns.
Representative John Boehner recently said, “Whether you call it a public option, an opt-out, a trigger, or a co-op, the fact is all of these proposals put us on the path to government-run health care. Forcing Americans off of their current health coverage and onto a government-run plan isn’t the answer, but that’s exactly what the Democrats’ plan would do.”
Politifact’s research into the statement found that Boehner’s office based the claims on a study by the Lewin Group that predicted within in three years 123 million people would be part of the public plan.Their reasoning cited the public plan, conceivably, would never be at risk of going out business or failing because it is backed by the government and taxpayer funds. It would force providers to accept low payments like Medicare, a government healthcare program already in place, does making it the cheapest insurance option. Being the cheapest, businesses would drop the insurance they already have to save money and sign their employees up for the public option.
Politifact takes the argument and dissects it piece by piece showing how the Lewin Group and Congressman Boehner are false. Every democratic healthcare proposal has stipulations stating a public option would have to be self-sustaining with patient premiums, the government will, however, help get the program started. The public option will have to negotiate rates with providers because it will have to be self sufficient, it can not force low rates and expect the government to help out. Employers will not be allowed to force employees to accept a certain health care plan. They can offer a set amount as a benefit, but the employee will have the choice to accept the insurance the company offers or get their own. In addition, only small businesses will be able to offer the public option to employees.
Opponents to the public option have countered that final argument about businesses not being able to offer the public option with the fact employers could then not offer any health care incentives to their employees, saving even more money, forcing them to get it on their own. Politifact does not buy that argument citing most workers rate health insurance as their top priority when talking about benefits. Any company wanting to stay competitive in the work force would continue to offer the best plans possible.
Politifact did say it is not true to say no one will ever have to switch plans if the health care reform passes, they even rated Obama’s statement saying so as a half truth. The reform would change a lot of things about the health insurance industry and how it is regulated forcing everyone one involved to make a few changes, possibly even plans, specifically if you currently buy your own insurance separate from your employer.
Whenever you deal with politics, you can expect to hear half truths and twisting of facts to get a particular view to hold. It just seems with the shape of the country in a pivotal point of needing some changes, but everyone debating over how much to change or what to change, the stakes are higher forcing the game of words to new heights.
Democrats are desperately trying to get a major “change” they can stand behind when they go to the elections next year. Republicans want to “keep the democrats from making mistakes for the sake of change.” No one knows which side is right, no one ever does until one side wins and we come out the other side to see the actual results not projected or simulated ones.
One down turn with the debate is very rarely once the current issue is over do the politicians go back to their status quo of political games and tricks. The level of deception and lying is here to stay. With twenty-four hour cable news and new media outlets, such as blogs, politicians must find new ways to convince a growing number of citizens actively following and participating in the process they are right and the right person for the job. The main tactic emerging in this era for doing so is to say whatever necessary, at any costs.
Neal Goodson's Blog 