First -- if you haven't read Upper West's diary "The Great Healthcare Schlep," please read, tip, and rec, and then come back here for my thoughts on how we can exponentially increase the reach of that project.
After reading that diary and comments, I decided to check out what AARP is saying on its website. To my horror, I discovered that virtually every commenter in the online forum is swallowing rightwing lies hook, line and sinker, and passing them on to those not "enlightened" enough to be aware of them. They're accusing AARP of having drunk the Kool-Aid, urging one another to call Congress to prevent the passage of the legislation, threatening to cancel AARP memberships, etc. It's really grotesque.
I immediately registered for the online forum (you don't have to be a member of AARP, but they do ask for your birthdate so you may need to be 50+) and posted a message -- you can see it below the fold. I then came back here to encourage everyone of suitable age to please do the same. There is SO much misinformation in that forum.
My post:
Please don't believe everything you read or hear about health care reform. Instead of blindly forwarding scary e-mails, look at the bills themselves, or at least check some kind of factchecking source to find out what's true.
Betsy McCaughey's claim about mandatory euthanasia counseling for seniors is NOT TRUE. Snopes.com calls it "false," politifact.com gives it a "pants on fire" rating, and factcheck.org says it's "Nonsense."
None of the bills Congress is considering have any provisions about killing seniors, requiring them to "choose how they want to die," mandating euthanasia counseling, or anything else remotely resembling that. What is "mandatory" is that IF you WANT to talk with a professional to get information about "end-of-life" issues like a living will or hospice, Medicare will pay for that service. Whether you use that benefit is your choice.
The e-mail that has been getting sent around to everyone listing page numbers of all the terrible things wrong with "Obamacare" is full of misunderstandings. I'm a lawyer. The e-mail was written by someone who doesn't understand the words they are reading on the page. Don't take their word for it, and don't take my word either. Go READ the cited pages, AND read the whole sections that those pages are part of. If you don't know how to read the legal language, talk to a friend or relative who does.
Health care reform will NOT cut Medicare benefits. The government will NOT be snooping in your bank account or tell your doctor what treatments are allowed. (Private insurers are the ones who do that, not the government. If you don't believe it, ask your doctor.) There are lots of other lies put into those e-mails to scare people about health care reform so the insurance companies can continue the status quo.
Please don't be a sheep. Find out for yourself. Don't let yourself be lied to.
Seniors are a particularly vulnerable population for these rightwing lies, for all kinds of reasons, and they are politically active. We really need to diversify the voices they are hearing. The proposed Healthcare Schlep is a great way to start that process. I think posting information at AARP is a way to extend our reach in that task, and I hope others will agree. We need to have as many people posting the truth as there are posting the lies, so everyone who reads that source will be able to see it.
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P.S. Join me at Digg to help Betsey McCaughey get all the credit she deserves for making up that nasty story.
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