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In addition, "Access to Insurance Does Not Guarantee Access to Care....For some state residents, the reform has actually made access worse....Many low-income residents had been eligible for completely free care (including medications) under the state's old free care system." Not under the new one because insurance policies "require co-payments for office visits and prescriptions, which are difficult for many low-income patients to pay."
Middle-income residents are also strapped by high premiums and provisions requiring co-pays, deductibles, and uncovered services. In addition, the plan "decimated the state's safety net" to ensure health insurer profits, and more recently, economic conditions created a $1.4 billion budget gap forcing Gov. Deval Patrick to cut $150 million from promised payments to the state's two largest safety-net health institutions - Boston Medical Center and Cambridge Health Alliance.
As of February 2009, they rolled back essential services, and closed one hospital and several neighborhood health centers. As a result, their most needy patients can't access care, and a similar situation exists throughout the country because budget-strapped states are cutting services for residents most in need of them.
More New York Times Support for Obamacare
After passage of HR 3962, The Times again approved in a November 14 editorial titled, "Reform and Medical Costs." While recognizing "the relentless rise in health care costs and health insurance premiums," and no easy fix to contain them:
"The good news is that the bill just approved by the House and a bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee would implement or test many reforms that should help slow the rise in medical costs over the long term."
Again, the argument is cynical and disingenuous in defense of House and Senate plans that will ration care and boost industry profits, mainly for the insurance and drug cartels.
According to The Times, a notorious shill for corporate interests, "unnecessary care" is the real problem "delivered by doctors and hospitals, which often perform a lot more tests and treatments than a patient really needs."
Unmentioned is the real problem - access to affordable, effective care under a profit-driven system where costs are so high millions can't afford them, especially for exorbitant insurance premiums.
Nor does The Times address Medicare cuts of $570 billion in the House bill, over $400 billion in the Senate Finance Committee's, or a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) study saying "permanent annual productivity adjustments to price updates for institutional providers" will cut $282 billion in services. Thus, cost increases may force them to reduce care or opt out of Medicare altogether, jeopardizing access for its beneficiaries.
The Times endorses taxing so-called "Cadillac" plans, ones mostly covering state employees, municipal union members, and other working Americans, not just the rich. It also ignores how many Americans both House and Senate bills leave uninsured - 18 million in HR 3962 and 25 million under the Senate version. And House abortion restrictions, mostly affecting working class women and the poor, violate the law.
In supporting corporate interests and a class-based society, The Times showed contempt for ordinary Americans who'll get less access to affordable, effective care if Obamacare is enacted, especially seniors under Medicare.
Media Matters for America "Myths and falsehoods about health care reform - the latest in a series of reports identifying and debunking" misreporting on the issue
Below are selected examples.
Myth: The federal deficit will explode under the House bill.
Fact check:
