The right is going to be throwing everything they've got at Obamacare in the next three weeks, using all the scare tactics they've got in their arsenal to derail it by the Oct. 1 launch date for signing up. Here's the latest pack of lies wrapped up in gentle music and an attractive and sympathetic mom from Americans for Prosperity,
running in Charlotte, North Carolina, Tampa, Florida, Cleveland, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. It's about Callie, the 12-year-old girl who has had 16 surgeries, including open heart. Her mom is worried they won't be able to keep their same doctors because of evil Obamacare, and says there are just too many unanswered questions about the new law.
Well, that one has been answered. The only reason this family would have to change doctors is if they for some reason change insurance companies by moving, changing jobs, or their employer changing carriers, or whatever. Obamacare will not make people change doctors. Only their employers or their insurance company would make them change doctors. And chances are pretty damned good the doctors in their area don't just accept one kind of insurance. So the likelihood of a child in a case like this not keeping her doctors is pretty slim.
But what's really stupid about the ad is that Callie is more protected than she's ever been because of Obamacare. Because of it, if for some reason her parents do lose their coverage, they can get a new plan that doesn't exclude her because of her pre-existing condition. They also won't have to worry about reaching a cap of what their insurance company will pay to keep covering their daughter, and then losing that coverage. And when Callie becomes an adult, and is no longer on her parents plan, no insurance company can deny her coverage because she's been so sick as a child.
If Callie's mom's brain cells hadn't been so polluted by teabagger lies, Callie's mom might understand all these things, and just how much safer her daughter's future is.