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When important public issues like health care reform and others are being debated, lots of false information is spread in the media.
For example, abortions cannot be paid for with federal funds under any health reform plan because of the 1976 Hyde Amendment passed in the Senate in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. There has been no discussion of changing that bill.
Reform will not cut Medicare benefits. Reform will not cover illegal aliens.
Reform will extend coverage for young people, stop insurance companies from charging women more, and make it illegal to deny coverage because of a pre-existing condition or cut care just when most needed.
Reform will eliminate co-pays for preventative care like cancer screenings and immunizations.
Reform will improve Medicare's quality of care by cutting down on paperwork, focusing on wellness and prevention, and rewarding doctors for the care they provide instead of how many procedures they do.
There are no "death panels" in any health reform. Living wills are between doctors, patients, and their families. No one will have to have a living will if they don't want one.
There has been no proposal by the president or any congressional committee that will result in a government takeover of the health care system.
Members of Congress are covered by private insurance under the same system that covers all federal workers; i.e., Federal Employees Health Plan.
In July, Investor's Business Daily published an editorial in which it claimed that H.R. 3200 would make private insurance illegal. But IBD was mistaken. It was citing the part of the bill that ensures people with individually purchased coverage don't have to give up that coverage unless they want to.
We all know the sources of the bad information and outright lies. Freedom of speech provisions of the U.S. Constitution protect them.
George Beddoe
Fredericksburg
