[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 21166-21167]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I wish to take a few minutes this morning to 
bring to the attention of the Senate an article in the September 7 
Newsweek magazine. This is the language from Newsweek. I am not using 
the words; these are their words. There are two pages. ``The Five 
Biggest Lies in the Health Care Debate.'' Remember, it is the five 
biggest, but there are a lot of them that have been going on. These are 
the five biggest lies, in the estimation of the publishers of this 
multimillion-dollar distributed magazine:

       To the credit of opponents of health-care reform, the lies 
     and exaggeration they're spreading are not made up out of 
     whole cloth--which makes the misinformation that much more 
     credible. Instead, because opponents demand that everyone 
     within earshot (or e-mail range) look, say, ``at page 425 of 
     the House bill,'' the lies take on a patina of credibility. 
     Take the claim in one chain e-mail that the government will 
     have electronic access to everyone's bank account, implying 
     that the Feds will rob you blind.

  That is a falsehood. It is not in any bill, on any page, or anyplace. 
It is just made up, and it is carried on talk radio, blogs, and cable 
TV all over America. It is false, not true.
  One of the things I found in going home is that people are 
concerned--old people, because we get sick when we get old--they won't 
be able to get any chemotherapy. In this magazine, No. 1, it says that 
``the threat that Medicare will give cancer patients over 70 only end-
of-life counseling and not chemotherapy'' is a lie. It is not me saying 
that, it is Newsweek.
  Another one is that illegal immigrants will get free health 
insurance.

       The House bill doesn't give anyone free health care.

  So illegal immigrants getting free health insurance is a lie. That is 
one of the five biggest lies.
  Another one is that death panels will decide who lives. This is a 
dandy that started and got legs because of the resigned Governor of 
Alaska.

       On July 16, Betsy McCaughey, a former lieutenant governor 
     of New York and darling of the right, said on Fred Thompson's 
     radio show that ``On page 425''--

  They talk about page 425, but it doesn't exist there or anyplace 
else. But that gives them credibility.

       ``On page 425, Congress would make it mandatory . . . that 
     every five years, people in Medicare have a required 
     counseling session that will tell them how to end their life 
     sooner, how to decline nutrition.'' Sarah Palin coined 
     ``death panels'' in an August 7 Facebook post.

  Mr. President, that is a lie.
  Next is that the government will set doctors' wages. This is the 
socialized medicine thing we hear so much about, that all this health 
care debate is about is socialized medicine. This is in the magazine.
  I have told people in Nevada and everyplace I went during the break 
that the only person I have ever heard in many years who spoke about a 
single-payer system was Paul Wellstone. He did it proudly. He believed 
in it and he talked about it. But he is the only person I have heard 
talk about it since I have been in Congress. But the government setting 
doctors' wages is a lie. Socialized medicine is not part of the plan 
that is being talked about. That is simply not true.
  I hope people will come back to reality and understand that what we 
are trying to do is fix a system that is bankrupting our country. 
Insurance companies are making huge amounts of money. They are not 
subject to the antitrust laws. They are taking advantage of the 
American people. Their No. 1 goal is to see how much money they can 
make, and that is not a lie. We are trying to change the curve.
  Right now, in America, one-sixth of every dollar spent by everyone--
it doesn't matter where you are--is for health care. If we don't change 
that, by 2020, which is close, 35 percent of every dollar spent will be 
for health care. We are not trying to take away benefits from old 
people. We are doing our very

[[Page 21167]]

best to have a fair system and one that stops the insurance companies 
from taking advantage of everyone.

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