Health Care Reform - The Facts
Factcheck.org has dissected President Obama’s prime time speech on health care reform a couple weeks back, and here are a few of facts that he misspoke about.
- Obama promised that the health care overhaul would be paid for. However, budget experts believe that proposals currently on the table would add hundreds of billions to our deficit over the next 10 years.
- Obama stated that his plan would cover 97% of all Americans. This number is vastly overstated.
- Obama stated that American families are paying thousands of dollars annually in increased health care costs as a result of covering the costs of the uninsured when they receive care. The implication being that there would be significant health insurance savings by reducing the number of uninsured via his program. In actuality this number is about $200 per year or less than $17 per month.
- Obama claimed his budget has cut federal spending by $2.2 trillion over the next decade, however the congressional budget office projects a $2.7 trillion increase.
- Obama stated that the U.S. per capita spending on health care is $6,000 more than the average country. This number should actually be $2,500, which is still pretty high in comparison.
detailed data supporting these facts can be found at http://www.factcheck.org/2009/07/obamas-health-care-news-conference/
