True or False?
Since last Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act, politicians have had a lot to say about the effect the law likely will have on Americans. Some of it is true, but opponents are filling the airwaves with half-truths, exaggerations and outright lies. So, here are the facts.
Let’s start with something said by President Obama.
True or False?: If you like your current insurance plan, you can keep it. (President Obama, June 28)
Half true. If your health coverage is provided by your employer, the choice isn’t yours; it belongs to your employer. If you buy your own policy, the statement is true.
True or False?: ”Obamacare … means that for up to 20 million Americans, they will lose the insurance they currently have, the insurance that they like and they want to keep.” (Mitt Romney, June 28)
False. Romney got his numbers by cherry-picking information from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which says 20 million is a worst-case scenario and not likely to happen; its real estimate was closer to 3 million. Four other estimates by the Urban Institute, the Lewin Group, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services and the Rand Corp., estimated closer to the 3 million and none of them projected anything close to 20 million. Some people will give up what is offered by their employers and get policies they like better, and they are included in the estimates.
True or False? Some companies with 20 or fewer employees will go out of business because of the costs of complying with the law. (Florida Gov. Rick Scott)
False. Companies with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from having to offer coverage. Employers with fewer than 25 employees, whose average annual wages are below $50,000 and offer health insurance, qualify for a tax break of no more than 35 percent. That cap will be lifted to 50 percent in 2014. Either Scott hasn’t read the law or his pants are on fire.
True or False? “Obamacare is the biggest tax hike in the history of the world. (Rush Limbaugh)
False. President Bill Clinton’s 1993 tax hike was bigger, as was Ronald Reagan’s 1982 tax increase, according to PolitiFact, which cited Jerry Tempalski, an analyst in the Office of Tax Analysis with the U.S. Department of the Treasury. There have been plenty of bigger increases; these are just two of them.
True or False? Those who don’t buy insurance under the new law will face the threat of jail time. (Del. State Rep. Bob Marshall)
False. Completely false. Marshall said this when he was introducing a bill to exempt the state from complying with the law. He lost his fight, although he did help set in motion the lawsuit that went to the Supreme Court, where the entire ACA was upheld.
True or False? The law will add trillions to our national deficit. (Mitt Romney)
False. The Congressional Budget Office has said the new health care law would actually reduce the federal budget deficit by $210 billion over the next 10 years. In the following decade, the law should continue to reduce deficits by about one-half of one percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.
Tags: Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
Life o’ Mike honors Joe Eblen
Life o' Mike presented its first Michael T. Danforth Community Service Award to Joe Eblen at a luncheon on June 8, in the Friendship Hall of First Congregational Church, 20 Oak St., Asheville.
Joe, seen here with Leslie Boyd, left, and his wife, Bobbie, has spent his life helping children and families, both as a coach and game official for more than 60 years, and as founder of Eblen Charities.
Start From Seed
Life o' Mike has a new program- Start from Seed (SFS).
SFS is a volunteer doula program aimed at providing non-medical, comprehensive support to low income, high-risk women and families of Buncombe County focusing on three areas:
1. We help new doulas with certification and training in return for their participation as a volunteer doula for SFS
2. We mentor volunteer doulas with their first few clients
3. Our volunteer doulas provide birth and postpartum doula services to low income, high risk moms, providing support and tools to empower them as a new parent.
A birth doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; a postpartum doula provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Start from Seed clients are referred to us from the Buncombe County Department of Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership Program, Western North Carolina Community Health Services, and Mission Hospital. The Program is intended and designed for growing clients’ inner strength and helping them gain empowerment to help them cope with the emotional, physical and mental challenges of childbirth, labor, and motherhood.
Our new moms and their infants have many needs. If you would like to help them get off to a good start, please visit our Start from Seed web site: Start from Seed, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.