Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Aisha Tyler's Obamacare sales pitch needs work

.@ aishatyler is laying the smack down on some Obamacare nay-sayers right now. Fun to watch.


- Anthony Berry (@Twanzio) July 23, 2013

Aisha Tyler, the voice actress for the popular cable show "Archer," is among the celebrities recruited by the White House to promote Obamacare.


Tyler took to Twitter to bolster support for the law earlier today. Many liberals were delighted, but Twitchy noticed holes in some of her arguments.


Let's start with her assertion that Obamacare will keep wealthy people like her from paying for everyone else's health care:


. @ ramblinscotzman & making sure all buy coverage. You have to have auto ins. by law. You should have health ins too so I don't pay for you.- Aisha Tyler (@aishatyler) July 23, 2013


Under Obamacare, of course, subsidies are extensive. Who does Taylor think will pay for those subsidies?


Med insurance is SO critical, even when u are young & healthy. #Obamacare makes it easier & cheaper starting Oct 1st: HealthCare.gov- Aisha Tyler (@aishatyler) July 23, 2013


"Cheaper?" That's very questionable.


@ skeetervance we all pay no matter what, when uninsured people go to emergency room & cost hundreds of thousands instead of just hundreds.- Aisha Tyler (@aishatyler) July 23, 2013


Emergency Room visits cost a thousand times more than other types of health care? Doubtful.


. @ carapinstation #obamacare ends exclusion due to pre-existing conditions. It also prevents ins. cos. from dropping you due to illness.- Aisha Tyler (@aishatyler) July 23, 2013


Obamacare didn't make it illegal for insurance companies to drop patients when they become ill. That was already illegal. Has been since 1997.


. @ ramblinscotzman Basic open market rules of collective purchasing. Also the more people that are insured, the less the rest of us pay...- Aisha Tyler (@aishatyler) July 23, 2013


We'll pay less? Again, that's questionable.


@ hetheeme Imagine if you could pay once a yr & have your car completely taken care of: oil changes, tuneups, gas & insurance coverage. - Aisha Tyler (@aishatyler) July 23, 2013


Tyler is an actress. If she were an economist she would know about the "moral hazard" problem and she would understand that people should pay for oil changes, tuneups, and gas out of their own pockets, not through insurance premiums.


. @ ramblinscotzman @ dumbstruckMC So what are you 2, as a part of "WE" the people doing to solve it? Gov't IS the instrument of the people.- Aisha Tyler (@aishatyler) July 23, 2013


Except the majority of Americans think Obamacare is flawed and will reduce the quality of health care.


. @ hetheeme okay, no. all studies show that ongoing preventive care, screening, early detection, REDUCE overall care costs for all.- Aisha Tyler (@aishatyler) July 23, 2013


"All studies"?


From the New England Journal of Medicine:

Sweeping statements about the cost-saving potential of prevention, however, are overreaching. Studies have concluded that preventing illness can in some cases save money but in other cases can add to health care costs. For example, screening costs will exceed the savings from avoided treatment in cases in which only a very small fraction of the population would have become ill in the absence of preventive measures.


Doesn't look like "all studies" to us.


By the way, during President Obama's first term, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPTF) recommended less cancer screening, not more:


The USPSTF is the ... review panel that advised cutting back on routine ovarian cancer screenings last month, recommended fewer prostate cancer screening tests in May 2012, and proposed mammogram restrictions for women over age 50 in 2009.


In fact, the Mayo Clinic reported this summer that mammogram screenings for women in their 40s have declined nearly 6 percent since the Obama panel announced its decision in 2009. "Comparing mammography rates before and after publication of the new guidelines," the Mayo Clinic wrote, "researchers found that the recommendations were associated with a 5.72 percent decrease in the mammography rate for women ages 40-49. Over a year, nearly 54,000 fewer mammograms were performed in this age group."


Forbes columnist Dr. Paul Hsieh explains:


ObamaCare links insurance coverage of preventive medical services to their USPSTF rating ... [U]nder ObamaCare, Medicare payment decisions will become increasingly controlled by the new Independent Payment Advisory Board, explicitly created to reduce Medicare spending ... To reduce costs, many private insurers will likely drop coverage for "C" and "D" rated services. Hence under ObamaCare, the USPSTF guidelines will likely become the de facto standards for both government and private health insurance coverage.


If screening is as awesome as Tyler thinks it is, she should be very worried indeed.


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