Is FactCheck Recycling Talking Points on ObamaCare?

Here is an email I sent to FactCheck.org:

Your recent article claims insurance premiums won’t go up. Are you kidding? Simple economics, or the experience of states like Massachusetts or New York should make it clear that mandates like guaranteed issue and community rating drive up the cost of coverage for all.

Maybe you missed the fact that:

• Premiums are going up in California, Nevada, Oregon, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Kansas. Premiums are increasing by 35 to 39% in Connecticut.
• Premiums are rising, and offerings are being dropped in Pennsylvania.
• Cost increases are the highest in five years.
• Employers are planning to drop coverage:
  • Except when they get exemptions from the law.

And your line that Medicare Advantage offers benefits “such as gym memberships or spare eyeglasses” is absurd politicking, implying that Medicare Advantage is frivolous. Medicare Advantage offers far more important health care options than that, as I’m sure you can read from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Indeed, Medicare Advantage is designed to eliminated the need for “medigap coverage,” additional insurance that provides for the services Medicare doesn’t. In fact, 70% of seniors on Medicare receive some sort of supplemental insurance, because the coverage under Medicare is so limited.

Maybe you think that all these seniors should be forced off Medicare Advantage, and forced to buy supplemental coverage elsewhere-such as AARP, which sells such supplemental coverage (and also lobbied intensely for Obamacare). But at least be honest about what Medicare advantage covers.

For more on health care reform, check out our recent PolicyPoints.