Q: Did Obama ignore the question when asked if he’d give up his own coverage and switch to a proposed new "universal" plan?
A: Obama wasn’t asked that question, as wrongly claimed in a chain e-mail. And he responded at length to the question he was actually asked.
Month: August 2009
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Aug. 11-Aug. 17
This week, readers sent us comments on Canadian health care (again), Obama’s thoughts on a single-payer system and AARP’s support of a health care overhaul.
In the FactCheck Mailbag we feature some of the e-mail we receive. Readers can send comments to editor@factcheck.org. Letters may be edited for length.
August 19, 2009
In 2007, 31.1 percent of national health care expenditures was for hospital care; 21.4 percent went to physician/clinical services.
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation
Keep Your Insurance? Not Everyone.
President Obama has repeatedly said that under the health care overhaul efforts in Congress, “if you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan.” But he can’t make that promise to everyone. In fact, under the House bill, some employers might have to modify plans after a five-year grace period if they don’t meet …
More ‘Senior Scare’
The conservative 60 Plus Association is running a TV ad saying Congress plans to pay for overhauling health care “by cutting $500 billion from Medicare.” It claims that this “will mean long waits for care” and cuts to MRIs and other imaging services, that “seniors may lose their own doctors” and that “government, not doctors, will decide …
August 18, 2009
Sixty-one percent of the non-elderly population in the U.S. – or 159 million people – have health insurance provided by their employers.
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation
August 17, 2009
U.S. national health expenditures per capita are projected to be $13,100 in 2018. They were $2,814 per capita in 1990.
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation/CMS
August 16, 2009
The 2008 monthly average enrollment in Medicare consisted of 37.5 million elderly and 7.3 million disabled persons.
Source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
August 15, 2009
Medicare’s average monthly enrollment in 2008 was 44.8 million people.
Source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Palin vs. Obama: Death Panels
Like many disagreements in the digital age, it all started with a post on Facebook. Last Friday, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin posted a note to her Facebook page and introduced a new term to the health care debate:
Palin, Aug. 7: The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide,