Patients First Ad Puts Fear Mongering Before Facts

Patients First Ad - Putting Fear Mongering First

Does Patients First Think Americans Can Trust The Private Health Insurance Industry?

Patients First: "Washington now runs your banks, insurance, and car companies.  But do you trust Washington with your life?" ["Patients First," via YouTube, 6/29/09]

Government-Administered Medicare Is Actually More Efficient Than Private Insurance. The Council for Affordable Health Insurance, "a research and advocacy association of insurance carriers," published a report stating: "Administrative costs are lower under Medicare than for private health insurance." The report added, "our best estimates indicate Medicare at slightly above 5% of total Medicare cost in 2003, whereas the government currently reports about 2%... The private market administrative costs are expected to remain at about 9% of total private insurance cost, excluding premium taxes, commissions, and profit. With such items, private costs would be slightly under 17%." [CAHI, Medicare versus Private Health Insurace: The Cost of Administration, 1/6/06]

The Private Health Care Industry Does Not Care About Americans.

Insurance Bureaucrats Stand Between Americans And Their Doctors.  Dr. Howard Dean said on MSNBC: "Right now there is a bureaucrat between you and your doctor, and it's that private health insurance bureaucrat." [MSNBC via Nexis, accessed 6/17/09]

Insurance Applicants Rejected Based On Height And Weight.  In an article offering advice on what to do when you lose your health care, the Washington Post reported: "Insurers can decline to offer you a policy, exclude coverage for certain conditions or charge you high premiums. Those with serious conditions such as HIV, cancer or diabetes, as well as those with common conditions such as obesity, can feel the snub. 'In the past four or five years, I've had people turned down just because of height and weight,' says Jerry Patt, an independent agent in Gaithersburg who has been in the business for more than 35 years. 'They could be having no medical problems whatsoever, but their build was not acceptable.'" [Washington Post, 6/22/08, emphasis added]

The Senate Health Bill Will Cost LESS Than The Money Already Set Aside To Pay For Health Care Reform

Patients First: "Congress is rushing to take over health care too. Paid for by $600 billion in new taxes and cutting $400 billion from Medicare." ["Patients First," via YouTube, 6/29/09]

Obama Has Set Aside $634 Billion For Health Care Over Ten Years. The Washington Post reported that President Obama set aside a "$634 billion reserve fund over the next decade." [Washington Post, 2/26/09]

Democrats' Health Care Reform To Cost $611 Billion Over Ten Years. Reuters reported that the CBO scoring of the Democrats' "plan to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system has dropped to $611 billion over a decade." [Reuters, 7/2/09]

Obama Tax Increases Are For The Top 5% ONLY. According to CNN, "Obama officials are pushing back by noting they are just raising taxes for the top 5 percent of Americans while 95 percent of Americans got a tax cut with the recent stimulus plan." [CNN, 2/25/09]

Patients First Uses Misleading Figure

Patients First: "Plus, tens of millions will lose their current insurance and wind up on the government health plan." ["Patients First," via YouTube, 6/29/09]

Five Of The Six Options Lewin Studied "Are Less Aggressively" Priced And Would Cause Fewer Americans To Switch To The Public Plan.  NPR reported: "The study looked at six options, says [Lewin Vice President] Sheils. 'And five of those options are less aggressively priced than the Medicare payment level option,' meaning they would attract fewer enrollees to switch from private insurance coverage. Sheils stops short of saying that opponents of a public plan were misusing his statistics, because while 'this is the extreme case, I don't think it has been stricken from everyone's agenda, as far as I can tell.'" [NPR, All Things Considered, 6/10/09]

What Could Happen To Your Family If Nothing Changes?

Patients First: "What will happen to your family's health care, if Washington runs it? Tell Senator Baucus to vote 'no' on government run health care." ["Patients First," via YouTube, 6/29/09]

BCBS Retroactively Cancelled Plan After Six-Year-Old's Tumor Surgery.  According to the Los Angeles Times, "when Steve and Leslie Shaeffer's daughter, Selah, was diagnosed at age 4 with a potentially fatal tumor in her jaw, they figured their health insurance would cover the bulk of her treatment costs. Instead, almost two years later, the Murrieta, Calif., couple face more than $60,000 in medical bills and fear the loss of their dream home...Shortly after Selah's medical bills hit $20,000, Blue Cross stopped covering them and eventually canceled her coverage retroactively, refusing to pay for treatment, including surgery the insurer had authorized in advance." [Los Angeles Times, 9/17/06]

After Caesarean Section, Company Told Woman She Would Be Insurable If She Had Been Sterilized.  The New York Times reported on a woman who was turned down for private health insurance because her first child was delivered via caesarean section: "Having the operation once increases the odds that it will be performed again, and if she became pregnant and needed another Caesarean, [the insurance company] did not want to pay for it. A letter from the company explained that if she had been sterilized after the Caesarean, or if she were over 40 and had given birth two or more years before applying, she might have qualified." [New York Times, 6/1/08]

"Twenty Percent Of Americans Say They Have Delayed Or Postponed Medical Care, Mostly Doctor Visits, And Many Said Cost Was The Main Reason." According to MSNBC: "Twenty percent of Americans say they have delayed or postponed medical care, mostly doctor visits, and many said cost was the main reason, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters released on Monday. That figure is up since 2006, the last time the question was asked on the survey, when 15.9 percent of people said they had postponed or canceled medical care in the past year." [MSNBC.com, 4/20/09]