Get the facts

To the editor:

As the debate over national health care has grown increasingly heated, it’s become harder to separate fact from fiction. A few points:

Near the end of life, wouldn’t you like your family to have a doctor’s help to make sure your wishes are carried out and keep you comfortable? Ignore silly lies about so-called “death panels.”

Next time you’re choosing an insurance plan, wouldn’t you like to have the option of an insurance plan with a mandate to cut your costs and keep you covered? With a public option, you can’t lose. You can have that or you can keep your same choice among those for-profit plans which care to cover you as long as you’re healthy enough and you (or your employer, as long as you have one) can pay the skyrocketing premiums.

Current health care reform bills contain language similar to President Bush’s 2003 Medicare Part D bill restricting eligibility to legal residents. Yet many of the Republicans who voted for that bill now oppose the Obama plan, falsely claiming it would benefit illegal aliens. It won’t, as those who have read it know perfectly well.

Most people who learn the truth about these myths support reform. I’m confident we will be no different.