Five Myths About Health Care

Sen. Barack Obama has drawn many voters to his side, thanks in no small part to his health care plan. Unfortunately, his proposals rest upon several falsehoods that are all too common in the health care debate. Using his own words, let's take a look at the senator's contentions–and debunk these all too common myths.

MYTH #1: "If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system."

Many liberal policymakers believe that single-payer systems deliver superior medical care. While Obama's plan won't immediately impose socialized medicine upon all Americans, it will move our system substantially closer to that goal. …

MYTH #2: "One of the issues we must face and can't ignore is the explosion of health care costs that is crushing families and businesses across our country."

Americans do spend a great deal on health care–around 16% of GDP. But it's important to remember the value that Americans get for their money. …

MYTH #3: "Under my plan, we'll make sure insurance companies cover evidence-based, preventive care services–weight loss programs, smoking-cessation programs and other efforts to help people avoid costly, debilitating health problems in the first place."

Politicians love to tout "preventive care" as a panacea for rising health care costs. But the evidence in support of the much ballyhooed initiatives to shrink our waistlines and stop us from smoking remains mixed at best. …

MYTH #4: "[John McCain] loves to talk about his tax credit. But what he doesn't tell you is that he taxes health care benefits for the first time in history. "

One of the biggest problems with America's health care system is the tax treatment of health insurance. Businesses get a tax deduction, and their employees a tax benefit, for health insurance. Individuals, by contrast, do not. This makes life harder for small businesses, sole proprietors and those without employer-provided coverage. If they can even afford to purchase health insurance, they have to do so with after-tax dollars.

McCain proposes to fix this backward system …

MYTH #5: "I know the outrage we all feel about the 45 million Americans who don't have health insurance."

Obama is just one of many to claim that 45 million Americans–or 16% of the population–go without health insurance. That estimate isn't in line with reality.

The popular statistic comes from the Census Bureau, which admits that "health insurance coverage is likely to be underreported." That makes sense–some people may claim to be uninsured even if they lacked coverage for only a few weeks between jobs.

Nearly 18 million of the uninsured–38%–make more than $50,000 annually. More than nine million of those folks make more than $75,000 a year. Foolish as it may seem, a sizable number of financially comfortable individuals–particularly the young—opt against owning insurance. So long as insurance remains expensive, it's unlikely they'll change their minds.

Finally, as many as 12 million uninsured Americans are eligible for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program–but they haven't signed up. Can we really argue that they don't have health insurance? …