1202 Obama - Health Care hype

New York Times July 22, 2009
WASHINGTON — President Obama showed great fluency in the intricate details of health policy at his news conference on Wednesday night, but experts said some of his points were debatable.

Steve: doctors, nurses support overhaul of health care

• a half-dozen state medical societies have sharply criticized provisions that would establish a new government-run health insurance plan

Steve: Medicare could save large amounts of money

• Far from supporting this proposal, the American Hospital Association is urging hospital executives to lobby against it.

Steve: It’s not going to reduce Medicare benefits

• Hospitals say the cuts could indeed cut services in some rural areas and from teaching hospitals, which receive extra payments because of higher costs.

Steve: said that 160 Republican amendments were adopted

• Republicans said many of the amendments involved technical provisions and did not alter the fundamental features of the bill.

Steve: said that health insurance companies were making “record profits.”

• America’s Health Insurance Plans, the main lobby for insurers, contends that “for every $1 spent on health care in America, approximately one penny goes to health plans’ profits.”

Steve: wants to eliminate repetitious tests ordered by different doctors for the same patient.

• But, under his plan, it is not clear who would take responsibility for patients and coordinate care in traditional fee-for-service medicine.

Steve: The president continued to take credit for deficit reduction by making a claim that has been challenged by many experts.

• In fact, $1.5 trillion of those “savings” are mainly based on an assumption that the United States would have had as many troops in Iraq in 10 years as it did when Mr. Obama took office. But before leaving office, President George W. Bush signed an agreement with Baghdad mandating the withdrawal of all American forces within three years.
• So Mr. Obama is claiming credit for not spending money that, under the policy he inherited from Mr. Bush, would never have been spent in the first place.