Fresh ideas: Untruths about health care reform

I don't like to jump into the middle when people are shouting at each other, but when something is as important to me, my family and the country as comprehensive health care reform, well, here I go!

I challenge anyone to find a family they know that hasn't been affected by our broken system of providing health care. I have a friend who is spending close to his entire pension on health insurance while waiting for Medicare eligibility. If I were to lose my job I couldn't afford a private policy either.

I'm healthy, but like most middle-aged people, I have some health issues that would mean unaffordable insurance premiums. At my age, life is a pre-existing condition - and I'm not eligible for Medicare for almost a decade. Meanwhile, my friends and I are helping our grown children pay for high-deductible insurance policies - if we can afford it - because their entry-level jobs have no health insurance. Then there's the company I work for, that manages to provide health coverage to employees, but struggles annually with the costs.

And what about those whose insurance coverage is dropped when they are sick, self-employed families who can afford no coverage at all, and people who get sick and discover how much their insurance policy doesn't cover? Can anyone honestly say this system is working?

I don't have room to go into the motives of those who are hanging congressmen in effigy and shouting people down in meetings but the lies being spread can't go unanswered, so here are some corrections about the healthcare bill currently proposed in Congress.

Private health insurance will be banned.

Not true. Private health insurance will be purchased by individuals through an insurance exchange. The purpose of the exchange is to broaden the risk pool, keeping premiums cheaper and keeping insurance companies from dumping you when you get sick.

The government can't run a health insurance program.

What about government-run VA system? I know plenty of vets who are very happy with the care they get.

The government will ration care.

There are no provisions in the bills currently before Congress that would ration care. But anyway, isn't our current patchwork system of private insurance already rationing care?

They want to kill your grandmother. They will euthanize senior citizens.

Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina said last week that the bill would "put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government."

Apparently this scare tactic comes from a provision in the bill that orders Medicare to pay for end-of-life consultations between patients and their doctors. But the bill doesn't require the consultations. And since Medicare doesn't now pay for such consultations, many seniors lack the advance directives that are important for end-of-life care.

I challenge our senators and congressman to not listen to (or spread) lies, scare tactics and deliberate misinformation and do what's right for American families.

• Anne Macquarie, a private sector urban planner, is a long time resident of Carson City.