Alter S. Reiss ([info]dhole) wrote,

Some myths about the current healthcare bill explained.

There's been a lot of talk about this lately, so I figured that I'd clear up a few common misconceptions people seem to have about the recently passed Health Care Reform bill.


Myth 1:

With the passage of HCR, bears will be allowed to roam hospitals, devouring those patients too sick to hide or flee.

Status: FALSE

The ursine provisions of the health care bill remain controversial with the AMA and other organizations, but, basically, all they do is recognize that in some rural areas, particularly in the Dakotas and Alaska, bears have been acting as health care professionals for decades, and puts them into the category of other alternative health professionals, such as acupuncturists, osteopaths, and killer bees. Bear attacks may be available under some health plans, but those treatments are entirely at the discretion of the insurers.


Myth 2:

MRIs are once again to be termed "Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Images", and once again, a small percentage of those undergoing this procedure will gain super-powers that will allow them to perform great feats, at a cost to their humanity.

Status: FALSE

While this provision was included in earlier versions of the bill, it was dropped in the face of a strong opposition by Senator Keene and others.


Myth 3:

ObamaNaziSocialismAntichristApocolpyseRevalations4:15SicSemperTyranisTaxedEnoguhAlready!

Status: That's not a myth, that's a bunch of words, some of which are misspelled.


Myth 4:

A provision of the HCR bill calls to the Lord Above, to send down a dove, with beak as sharp as razors, to cut the throats of them there blokes, what sells bad beer to sailors.

Status: Partially true.

While this language does exist in the current version of the bill, it is unlikely to stand judicial scrutiny, as it will probably be seen as a violation of the separation of church and state. However, this is merely echoing faith-based programs enacted by individual states. The dove attacks on campus area bars selling Rolling Rock to University of West Florida Argonauts, for instance, can only be applauded, as Rolling Rock is swill.

Myth 5:

In order to pay for the mandates of this bill, President Obama has traded the treasury of the United States for a handful of magic beans.

Status: FALSE

Only one government-owned cow was traded for these beans, which have already more than earned back the initial investment. Also, since the treasury of the US currently contains less than negative fourteen trillion dollars, wouldn't you want to trade it, for just about anything?


Myth 6:

The HCR bill will allow communists control of our vital bodily fluids.

Status: TRUE

Yeah, this one is totally real. But, to be fair, there aren't that many communists left, and those that there are don't actually want that many bags full of lymph and phlegm.

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  • 37 comments

[info]secritcrush

March 23 2010, 17:35:41 UTC 2 years ago

hee hee.

[info]mrissa

March 23 2010, 17:40:03 UTC 2 years ago

Stupid Sen. Keene. I was really into that provision.

[info]drpaisley

March 24 2010, 04:15:19 UTC 2 years ago

If it had been Senator Kelly, this might have made sense.

[info]edithmatilda

March 23 2010, 17:40:07 UTC 2 years ago

On the NHS the best we can manage is badgers that might, but don't, have TB. There just isn't the same glamour.

[info]sethg_prime

March 23 2010, 18:05:02 UTC 2 years ago

Here in America, we don’t need no stinking badgers.

[info]rutemple

2 years ago

[info]dd_b

March 23 2010, 17:43:55 UTC 2 years ago

Thanks for clearing that up. I wasn't sure about the bears, in particular.

[info]jhetley

March 23 2010, 18:03:56 UTC 2 years ago

Maine black bears are shy -- it's hard to get an appointment.

[info]kd5mdk

2 years ago

[info]shsilver

March 23 2010, 17:55:08 UTC 2 years ago

Damn. That bears thing was just so cool I was hoping it was true (but only for Kodiak and grizzly bears. It would be embarrassing to be offed by a spectacled bear or worse, one of those socialist Canadian polar bears).

[info]gnomi

March 23 2010, 18:12:41 UTC 2 years ago

(but only for Kodiak and grizzly bears. It would be embarrassing to be offed by a spectacled bear or worse, one of those socialist Canadian polar bears)

Not Chicago Bears?

[info]shsilver

2 years ago

[info]rivka

2 years ago

[info]dornbeast

2 years ago

[info]miss_daizy

2 years ago

[info]jhetley

March 23 2010, 18:02:04 UTC 2 years ago

I think you should send this along to the RNC posthaste. Get their facts straight.

[info]xiphias

March 23 2010, 18:22:54 UTC 2 years ago

I understand that the House bill and the Senate bill still have a few conflicts, with the House requiring all Americans to convert to Islam, and the Senate requiring conversion to Satanism. Have you heard anything about how the reconciliation between those two versions is going?

[info]dd_b

March 23 2010, 18:24:43 UTC 2 years ago

Most of the people who really care think those are about equivalent, don't they?

[info]stevendj

2 years ago

[info]adrian_turtle

March 23 2010, 19:47:01 UTC 2 years ago

I had been thinking of this kind of bear doctor
http://www.shopcardsandgifts.unicefusa.org/detail.aspx?pro=E4A40A8C-A1A3-43EE-A115-9460F9B492B7
which would presumably terrify some of my political opponents, because of its affiliation with a menacing international organization. (I don't remember who posted to rasff, long ago, of seeing that type of doctor on the way into the OR and thinking, "I don't care how cute he is, I want a real surgeon!")

[info]seawasp

March 23 2010, 19:00:52 UTC 2 years ago

Damn that Senator Keene. He's such a killjoy.

Note, you messed up the wording on #6. It's *PRECIOUS* bodily fluids. Which means they're not so interested in the lymph.

[info]dhole

March 24 2010, 05:57:22 UTC 2 years ago

This is one of those questions which is going to be addressed during reconciliation. It may have budgetary impacts, as pineal juice is currently harvested from Medicaid patients, and used in the production of Red Bull.

[info]amend_locke

March 23 2010, 20:11:04 UTC 2 years ago

With the NHS, we don't just have badgers. We also have urban foxes in the hospital grounds. But they're urbane, because it's socialized medicine.

[info]del_c

March 23 2010, 20:25:14 UTC 2 years ago

bears will be allowed to roam hospitals, devouring those patients too sick to hide or flee. FALSE

I thought Americans had a constitutional right to bear harm?

[info]redbird

March 23 2010, 23:28:37 UTC 2 years ago

Yes, but under the penumbra theory of the ninth amendment, the bears have the right to privacy, so that service is provided only in the patient's own home.

[info]redbird

March 23 2010, 23:33:07 UTC 2 years ago

Would it be OK to [info]metaquotes point 5?

[info]dhole

March 24 2010, 05:49:31 UTC 2 years ago

Sure!

[info]ritaxis

March 24 2010, 03:18:49 UTC 2 years ago

As a communist, I know I surely don't want those bags of lymph and phlegm. Make the Republicans take them.

Anonymous

March 24 2010, 16:20:44 UTC 2 years ago

"Only one government-owned cow was traded for these beans, which have already more than earned back the initial investment."
I should say so! We got ourselves a space beanstalk. Now we just have to figure out how to climb 38,000 kilometers in reasonable time. Let's also pray that the thing is truly magical and doesn't rot. It'd be the "TIMBER!" that's heard around the world.

[info]miss_daizy

March 25 2010, 02:11:52 UTC 2 years ago

Just linked here by a friend and I've been trying to read this aloud to my husband but I keep laughing too hard to get it out. Very funny!

[info]rereader

March 25 2010, 18:59:50 UTC 2 years ago

Of course, there are bear doctors and bear doctors. We shouldn't reject these things out of hand.

[info]silvia_tamburu

March 26 2010, 12:23:52 UTC 2 years ago

I laughed so hard, I scared my dogs :)
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