Seniors still have no idea about what the new health care law gives them.

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-08-12-healthconfusion12_ST_N.htm

WASHINGTON — True or false: The new health care law will cut Medicare benefits for seniors. It will slash Medicare payments to doctors. It will ration health care.
In three polls conducted last month, large percentages of Americans answered "true" to each statement. All three are false.

Six weeks before the nation's health care delivery system begins a huge transformation, confusion reigns. For example: The debunked idea raised by opponents during congressional debate that "death panels" could make end-of-life decisions is seen as real by nearly half of those surveyed.

The National Council on Aging posed 12 questions about the law to 636 seniors and found that fewer than 17% of them knew half the answers. For instance, only one in three knew that Medicare will offer free annual wellness exams.

More than four in 10 people in the Kaiser poll wrongly believe the law included a government panel to make end-of-life decisions for Medicare patients. More than one-third in the Harris Poll said it included a government plan to compete with private insurers, something that was scuttled during congressional debate.

"The level of ignorance and misinformation is sort of astounding," says Humphrey Taylor, chairman of the Harris Poll. "It seems people are still reacting to the rhetoric, not the substance of what is in the bill, because they don't actually know what is or is not in the actual legislation."

[burnsei sensei]

1. And where people know so little,

and can learn so little, those in authority over money and care can claim or do whatever they want.
It works out well for the powerful.
It betrays the patient.

[sandnsea]

2. Thanks to Fox and Sarah Palin

and people who either perpetuated these myths or added some of their own.

[RKP5637]

3. ... because the messaging on health care was conflicting and confusing from

day one by the dems giving opponents fertile ground to almost permanently confuse the masses. The dems were all over the place on health care and all it did was feed the opposition. Now the conflicts and misinformation are cemented in peoples heads, and the real facts fall to the wayside.

[NNN0LHI]

5. I couldn't have explained it in slogans either

And that is what many people generally require.

Don

[woo me with science]

4. People generally don't know much about any legislation

until it is in place and affecting their lives.

Their complaint is really with the media, not the seniors.

[cbdo2007]

6. Obama should have a prime time press conference when this starts taking effect.

So that he can go through each of the lies point by point and tell everyone what the bill actually says.

Even in the days immediately after the bill was passed, I read through hundreds of articles to see a good listing of what was actually *in* the bill and only found a handful that truthfully went through the bills main items point-by-point and was clear and concise. That's what the Pres needs to do and it will be invaluable leading up to the election to expose the liars and take these items off the table for election debate.

[RKP5637]

7. Exactly!!! n/t

[EC]

8. I wonder if at the end of the polling these people

were given the correct answers or not...maybe they could leave the poll knowing more than they did...

[DailyGrind51]

9. Seniors will not read "fine print", which is why they are so easily scammed.

Even intelligent seniors balk at having to read through detailed contracts or other legal forms.

[eridani]

10. It's nice that those over 65 can lookd forward to some relief from the donut hole problem

Too bad those under from 50-64 are disposable human garbage. All we get is the opportunity to buy useless crap for 3 times what younger people pay.