AMERICAN ISSUES PROJECT

If Representative Joe Wilson was asked to apologize for his remarks during President Obama's speech last Wednesday to Congress, should the president have to apologize for his remarks, too? Joe Wilson rudely interrupted President Obama calling him a liar. On the other hand, Barack Obama misrepresented the present health care situation to America.

During his speech to Congress last Wednesday President Obama told the American people about two very tragic cases of insurance company abuse. He used these two examples to build his case for nationalized health care.

One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because his insurer found that he hadn't reported gallstones that he didn't even know about. They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it. Another woman from Texas was about to get a double mastectomy when her insurance company canceled her policy because she forgot to declare a case of acne. By the time she had her insurance reinstated, her breast cancer more than doubled in size. That is heart-breaking, it is wrong, and no one should be treated that way in the United States of America.

It sounds horrible, doesn't it? It's just too bad it isn't true.

The woman with breast cancer Obama was referring to lives in Waxahachie, Texas. Obama said the evil insurance company canceled her policy for failing to report a pre-existing "acne" condition. But, Barack Obama forgot to mention a couple of things. The woman, Robin Beaton, had her insurance canceled not because of her acne condition. She also had a heart condition she knew about and hid this from her insurance company:

One of Barton's constituents, Robin Beaton of Waxahachie, Texas, did know that her health history included acne and a rapid heartbeat. But she didn't think they were relevant to her current health and left them off her application.

Obama forgot to mention this in his talk. President Obama also forgot to mention that the breast cancer survival rate is much greater here in the United States than in countries with socialized medicine. In fact, women with breast cancer have a 14 percent higher survival rate in the United States than in Europe. Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States, and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom. Breast cancer mortality is also 9 percent higher in Canada than in the US. Less than 25 percent of U.S. women die from breast cancer. In Britain, it's 46 percent; France, 35 percent; Germany, 31 percent; Canada, 28 percent; Australia, 28 percent, and New Zealand, 46 percent. President Obama forgot to mention this, too.

In his speech Barack Obama also referred to an Illinois man who "lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because his insurer found he hadn't reported gallstones that he didn't even know about. They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it." But, Barack Obama was not honest about this case, either. Scott Harrington at The Wall Street Journal

Although the president has used this example previously, his conclusion is contradicted by the transcript of a June 16 hearing on industry practices before the Subcommittee of Oversight and Investigation of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The deceased's sister testified that the insurer reinstated her brother's coverage following intervention by the Illinois Attorney General's Office. She testified that her brother received a prescribed stem-cell transplant within the desired three- to four-week "window of opportunity" from "one of the most renowned doctors in the whole world on the specific routine," that the procedure "was extremely successful," and that "it extended his life nearly three and a half years."

The president forgot to mention that part. Harrington continued:

These two cases are presumably among the most egregious identified by Congressional staffers' analysis of 116,000 pages of documents from three large health insurers, which identified a total of about 20,000 rescissions from millions of policies issued by the insurers over a five-year period. Company representatives testified that less than one half of one percent of policies were rescinded (less than 0.1% for one of the companies).

 

So there you have it. Barack Obama searched America and only found two cases of insurance malpractice. Now we find out they were both untrue. We also find out the insurance industry has a stellar record and a very low rescission rate. In fact there were laws passed in 1997 that actually allow states to act without federal intervention, against bad faith denial of claims or other misbehavior by health insurers. So who should really be apologizing for Wednesday's speech?

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