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3 Big Myths About Health Care Reform

Don't be taken in by misinformation, warns Paul Krugman

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 12, 2010 1:23 AM CST | Updated Mar 12, 2010 6:08 AM CST
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(Newser) – Health care reform has made a miraculous comeback but its opponents are going to try to hoodwink the public with misinformation and lies down the home stretch, writes Paul Krugman. He outlines "three big myths" about reform in the New York Times.

  • "The government is grabbing control of a sixth of the economy." Private insurance—mostly regulated, subsidized employee plans—only makes up a third of health spending. The only extra place the government is intervening now is the "disastrous" market in which people buy their own plans, he notes.

  • "Reform does nothing to control costs." The Medicare actuary found that the plan will mean health care costs in 2019 would be just 1% higher with the plan than without: a "pretty good bargain" for insuring an extra 34 million people, Krugman writes.
  • "Health reform is fiscally irresponsible." This claim is just foolish, given that even the Congressional Budget Office—which is generally pessimistic—predicts that the plan will bring the deficit down.
"This is a reasonable, responsible plan," Krugman concludes. "Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise."

Opponents of proposals to overhaul the health care system protest on Independence Mall in Philadelphia.
Opponents of proposals to overhaul the health care system protest on Independence Mall in Philadelphia.   (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
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The only part of health care in which there isn’t already federal intervention is the market in which individuals who can’t get employment based coverage buy their own. That market, in case you hadn’t noticed, is a disaster. - Paul Krugman

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 108 comments
MarkFL
Mar 13, 2010 9:38 PM CST
I dare conservative lawmakers, conservative seniors, conservative po' folk, and conservative posters on Newser to drop your government sponsored health insurance and try to save money on the private market. Good luck morons.
LibertyAtStake
Mar 12, 2010 11:56 PM CST
Krugman still a Leftie hack.

http://libertyatstake.blogspot.../
[For a light hearted take our present peril]
rkossik
Mar 12, 2010 9:39 PM CST
Health care reform is going to pass, and Americans are going to benefit, and the right is doing everything in their power to keep it from happening.

 
health care costs • health insurance • health care industry • Congressional Budget Office • health care reform • uninsured • Paul Krugman

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