Chuck Todd misleads about Obamacare (illegal alien coverage, abortions, Calvin Woodward)

Chuck Todd (and/or Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg) of MSNBC offer this:

One of the reasons why the public appears so wary about Obama’s health-care plans is due to all the misinformation out there. Majorities in [a new NBC News poll] believe the plans would give health insurance coverage to illegal immigrants (55%), would lead to a government takeover of the health system (54%), and would use taxpayer dollars to pay for women to have abortions (50%) -- all claims that nonpartisan fact-checkers say are untrue about the legislation that has emerged so far from Congress. Additionally, 45% think the reform proposals would allow the government to make decisions about when to stop providing medical care for the elderly, which also isn’t true.

This illustrates once again why it would be nice if I could get some help in my attempts to discredit "nonpartisan fact-checkers" like FactCheck, Politifact, and Snopes:

1. According to FAIR, illegal aliens would be able to obtain coverage, at least given the state of one of the bills (link). More importantly, Obama himself says that his goal is to get around giving healthcare to illegal aliens by simply legalizing them first. And, he wants illegal alien children to be covered under his plan.

2. Even the Associated Press admitted on August 6 that "Health care legislation before Congress would allow a new government-sponsored insurance plan to cover abortions" (llink).

3. The other two points are basically a matter of opinion and forecasting. Since a national healthcare scheme wouldn't have unlimited resources, some form of rationing would have to come into play, and that would involve the government deciding that some groups of people get more resources than others.

UPDATE: Calvin Woodward of the Associated Press offers what's called by the Washington Post "FACT CHECK: Health overhaul myths taking root" (link). It came out about 12 hours after the First Read article, it addresses the same poll in the same way, and it's also misleading. Woodward states that "[t]he proposals being negotiated do not provide coverage for illegal immigrants." See the first above. On abortion, Woodward basically admits that critics could be right: "[y]et abortion guidelines are not yet clear for the government-supervised insurance exchange. There is strong sentiment in Congress on both sides of the issue."

UPDATE 2: For a detailed explanation that, yes, illegal aliens would be able to obtain healthcare under the plan, see this. See also this August 3 article from Rep. Lamar Smith:

The Democrats’ bill in the House, H.R. 3200, contains gaping loopholes that will allow illegal immigrants to receive taxpayer-funded benefits. And these loopholes are no accident.

The legislation contains no verification mechanism to ensure that illegal immigrants do not apply for benefits. Republicans offered an amendment to close this loophole — it would have required verification using the existing methods that are already in place to verify eligibility for other federal benefits programs. But, when they were asked to put the language of the bill where their words were, in a party-line vote, House Democrats rejected the amendment to require verification and close this loophole.

The bill also leaves open the possibility that if one citizen family member is eligible for benefits, then the entire family — including illegal immigrants — is also eligible for the benefits.

Comments

Lefties claim that immigration is a federal issue. However, when it comes to verifying that proposed public o

Lefties claim that immigration is a federal issue. However, when it comes to verifying that proposed public option will not be fraudulently or overtly

Lefties claim that immigration is a federal issue. However, when it comes to verifying that proposed public option will not be fraudulently or overtly serving illegal aliens, enforcement is to be left to the states. Rep Weinner D-NY last night on Hardball and Maddow basically said that those opposed to illegal aliens receiving an unfunded, unlawful healthcare/welfare

Lefties claim that immigration is a federal issue. However, when it comes to verifying that proposed public option will not be fraudulently or overtly serving illegal aliens, enforcement is to be left to the states. Rep Weinner D-NY last night on Hardball and Maddow basically said that those opposed to illegal aliens receiving an further unfunded, unlawful healthcare/welfare mandate should stop their bitching because illegals are already being treated in emergency rooms at great expense and nothing was going to change that.

Chuck Todd and Chris Matthews had their little dog and pony show attempting to refute the critics of the public option on illegal alien/immigration grounds, only to have Rep Weinner take a piss all over the complete charade. By the way I am liberal democrat who would strongly support a public option or even single payer if it was tied to a passage of the SAVE act and real tough border enforcement.

'believe the plans would give health insurance coverage to illegal immigrants (55%), ' That question is ridiculously vague but Keith O., Rachel M., Chris M., etc. imply that these 55% are morons. Let's ask them: 'is there a mechanism to ensure that health insurance will NOT go to illegal immigrants?' They'd probably answer YES! which would prove them to be the morons.

the real question is how much money will the political drug dealers in mexico city and washington make on this evil deal?

I think this site is a JOKE. Anyone who takes it seriously is a fucking FOOL!!!!!! "Ha ha" is what the author is thinking.

Mr. Burns go away and don't come back no one is making you read anything here, so be a good monkey and run away.