VIEWPOINT: Reform is no threat to Medicare

We’ve all heard the myths by now. Reforming health care will mean the end of Medicare. It’s socialized medicine, too expensive and will lead to rationed care. And who could forget: Government death panels are eagerly awaiting their chance to judge grandma’s worth and somehow determine who lives and who dies.

Those who have perpetuated these myths must not live in Washington state. Because if they did, they would realize that this state, with its “highest in the nation” levels of education, simply isn’t buying the propaganda designed to kill health care reform. And AARP members in Washington state are at the forefront of seeing through the anti-reform hype.

A new statewide survey of AARP members released Monday found that a majority (68 percent) support health care reform legislation being considered by Congress. The new survey also finds strong support for particular elements of the pending health care reform legislation:

 • Seventy-two percent support the provision that would prevent insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

 • Seventy-five percent support the provision that would allow Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.

 • Sixty-eight percent support the provision that would stop insurance companies from charging you much higher premiums based on your age.

 • Seventy-eight percent support the provision that would allow individuals to keep their current health insurance coverage if they are happy with it.

AARP members, who number more than 930,000 in Washington state, simply aren’t buying the talk radio doom and gloom or the misleading propaganda being promoted by opponents of reform. Like most Americans, they want reform, and this is why AARP applauds members of the state congressional delegation who voted for the Affordable Health Care for America Act (HR 3962).

Reps. Adam Smith, Norm Dicks, Jay Inslee, Rick Larsen and Jim McDermott stood up for meaningful health care reform and passed a bill that we can say with confidence meets the critical needs of older Americans and future generations.

For the 822,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Washington, the House plan would make prescription drugs more affordable by allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs and by closing the so-called “doughnut hole” – the gap that more than 22 percent of Washington state beneficiaries fell in to in 2007. It also would add preventive benefits like free cancer screenings, cracks down on waste and fraud, and protects traditional Medicare benefits.

For the more than 130,000 Washingtonians between the ages of 50 and 64 who are currently uninsured, the House plan would make coverage more available by making it illegal for insurance companies to turn down patients based on pre-existing health conditions.

While we’re pleased to see this important step forward, we know the fight isn’t over. The battle over the future of health care now moves to the U.S. Senate, and powerful special interests are already firing up their anti-reform propaganda machines. To those opponents of reform who would have us believe in death panels and claims of “socialized medicine,” we have a message: Washingtonians aren’t buying it.

If health care reform passes this year, it will be the most significant help our country has gotten from Congress in generations – turning 40 years of failure on its head. But importantly, it would also signal the triumph of the will of an educated electorate over the scare tactics of an entrenched and bloated health industrial complex.

For all Washingtonians, this would be a victory worth celebrating.

Doug Shadel is the state director of AARP Washington.