‘Death Panel’ Lie Gets Most Mileage in the (Uninsured) South
August 20, 2009
The economy is struggling to regain its footing everywhere, but polls show Southern states remain hardest-hit in some categories. That includes healthcare. A new Gallup poll shows higher percentages of Texas, New Mexico, and Mississippi residents are without health insurance — roughly one in four — than is true for any other states in the U.S.” New England states tend to be best off, with Massachusetts – where all residents are required to carry health coverage – home to just 5.5% without insurance . That is lowest in the country. (California clocks in at 21%, pretty shabby.) So how do low rates of uninsured compare with attitudes toward insurance reform? Huffington Post connected the dots and linked Gallup with a Daily Kos poll. It shows more people in the South and Midwest are more prone to believe healthcare reform myths than are other regions. 26 percent of Southerners said they think President Obama and Congress are proposing “death panels,” requiring elderly patients to meet with government officials and be subject euthanasia. The death panel charge – completely false – was made popular by ex-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and promoted by right-wing media such as Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. No major Republican leader has come forward to refute the charge.
Americans with health insurance are getting squeezed. Meanwhile those thrown off the rolls or who can’t afford it are dying by the thousands. Insurance reform is at the top of concerns in most polling. So why are Congressional reform advocates seemingly losing the public debate? Well, besides the fact that lobbyists have 