Pop Quiz for College Students

I thought it would be instructive to give a quick quiz on one very current topic -- one that will have an enormous impact on your future. Hyperlinks and footnotes are provided. How much do you know? 1. The most popular name for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act[1] is

a. Single Payer Services b. ObamaCare c. Health and Human Services d. Universal Health Care Law 2. Under Section 1501 of the above law, people will be forced to buy health insurance or they will be fined or jailed. a. True b. False 3. Exemptions from the monetary penalty and the mandate to purchase insurance will be given to certain groups. Who are these groups? a. incarcerated persons b. illegal aliens c. foreign nationals d. Indian tribes e. people who wrote the ObamaCare law f. "b" and "c" only g. all of the above 4. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the ACA or PPACA is only a few pages long. a. True b. False. As of February 2012, ObamaCare is now about 2,163,744 words long. Put another way, it is three times longer than the King James Version of the Bible. 5. Under the new law, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will fine taxpayers if they do not purchase health insurance. This is the first time that tax authorities will have complete access to people's health care. Will 16,000+ IRS agents be authorized to track down individuals and businesses that do not purchase insurance, offer insurance, or fill out the required forms? a. Yes b. No 6. The Congressional mandate on American citizens to purchase health insurance is considered an unconstitutional violation of personal liberty. That is why it is currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States. a. True b. False 7. In August 2010, seventy percent of Americans opposed ObamaCare. In a recent 2012 poll, 82% "don't think the federal government should be able to require them to buy health insurance or pay a fine if they don't." a. True b. False 8. As of March 2011, 1,040 organizations have been granted a one-year exemption from ObamaCare. These waivers mean that certain Americans are being treated differently from other Americans. a. True b. False 9. The CBO or Congressional Budget Office, which is a non-partisan group, estimates that 30 million people will still be uninsured under ObamaCare. a. True b. False 10. What difference does it make if ObamaCare is enacted because we will have universal health care in America. We will still be able to appeal a medical decision if something goes wrong. Isn't that correct? a. True. You do not lose the right to appeal a medical decision. b. No, a government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get and there can be no appeal. Their decision is final. 11. Mid-sized or large employers expect to drop employee health coverage by 2014. Thus, the government's own Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimates that upwards of 43 million people will lose their employer-provided coverage as a result of ObamaCare. This will eliminate private healthcare completely and mean that more people will depend on government-provided healthcare. a. True b. False 12. What are the concerns with government-provided healthcare otherwise known as socialized medicine? a. health care costs will skyrocket b. people will no longer be able to choose their own physicians c. The Secretary of Health will determine what drugs and treatments patients receive d. the doctor-patient relationship will be undermined e. rationing of care will occur as the government determines medical decisions f. none of the above g. all of the above 13. Thomas Sowell, an African American economist has expressed his concern about ObamaCare with the following statement: With politicians now having not only access to our most confidential records, and having the power of granting or withholding medical care needed to sustain ourselves or our loved ones, how many people will be bold enough to criticize our public servants, who will in fact have become our public masters? A good paraphrase of this quotation would be: a. Americans can trust their government to make good decisions. b. Americans will become servants. c. Confidential records can now be accessed by the government and medical decisions will be made by politicians. d. Politicians have become our masters. 14. The 44th President has now increased the federal debt to a. less than the previous President b. almost $17 trillion dollars c. more than all American presidents put together d. "b" and "c" e. only a million dollars 15. An American child born today will owe this amount of money in order to pay off the federal debt. a. $ 10,000 b. $ 16,000 c. $ 35,000 d. $185,000 16. When ObamaCare was passed in 2010 it was estimated that it would cost $940 billion dollars. The latest estimate is now $1.76 trillion dollars. How will this money be raised? a. There is always enough money in the federal Treasury b. Taxes will be raised on all Americans c. Cuts will be made to Medicare d. The government will just print more money e. "b" and "c" 17. Hasn't socialized medicine worked in countries like Great Britain and Canada? In a recent article from the British newspaper entitled The Telegraph, the following was disclosed. Did you know that "[The British] NHS [National Health Service] managers are deliberately delaying operations as they wait for patients either to die or go private in order to save money, according to an official report." In addition, according to the London's Daily Telegraph, "[t]he U.K.'s National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) just announced plans to cut its 60,000 annual steroid injections for severe back-pain sufferers to just 3,000. This should save the government 33 million pounds (about $55 million). 'The consequences of the NICE decision will be devastating for thousands of patients...,'" In fact, Prime Minister David Cameron of Great Britain has introduced a bill to partially privatize health care because socialized medicine is harming the people. And Canada, Sweden, and Germany are all turning away from socialized medicine. David Gratzer writes his first person account about this in "The Ugly Truth About Canadian Health Care." a. Yes, I did know this information b. No, I did not realize that rationing occurs under socialized medicine 18. Under ObamaCare, Medicare payments to physicians will be cut. Does that mean that senior citizens' access to medical care will be restricted? a. Yes b. No 19. In this You Tube presentation, President Obama stated that he "wouldn't add a dime to the existing deficit with his health care plan." How does one explain the discrepancy? a. He chose not to be so transparent b. Some Americans heard what they wanted to believe c. Not enough questions were asked about the actual costs d. Simplistic slogans covered up hard facts e. The CBO is not telling the truth f. "a" "b" "c" and "d" Moreover "[i]n a study last year, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, estimated that the CBO underestimated the law's impact on job-based health insurance. He says that the incentives in the law will drive 35 million more workers out of employer plans and into subsidized coverage, and that this would add about $1 trillion to the total cost of the health law over the next decade. McKinsey's survey implies that the cost to taxpayers could be significantly more." Furthermore, a new CBO report dated March 2012 showed that the "national health care law will cost $1.76 trillion over a decade...rather than the $940 billion forecast when it was signed into law." 20. ObamaCare allows each person choices as to what level of coverage he/she wants. a. Yes. It certainly does. b. No. The new health law means individuals will no longer decide what level of coverage is right for them. Instead, the government will decide. According to the Independent Women's Forum, many Americans will have to purchase policies that cover treatments they do not want or need and this will cost them more. 21. Is it true that certain religious groups would be exempt from ObamaCare and others would not be exempt? a. True. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act "rules offer a situation where American Muslims could qualify for the religious exemption," according to a loophole known as the health-sharing ministry section. b. False. No, that would be unfair. 22. President Obama pledged that under his health care legislation, "[i]f you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan, period." Will this be true if your employer drops your insurance coverage under the incentives created by ObamaCare? a. Yes. If the President said it, it must be true. b. No. It is estimated that 43 million Americans will lose their employer-provided coverage and will be forced to accept whatever the government offers. 23. Will ObamaCare streamline your visit to a doctor? a. Absolutely. ObamaCare will allow patients to have more immediate access to a physician. b. Unfortunately, as resources are rationed, and reimbursements levels are reduced, there will be fewer doctors' appointments and longer waits for care. Doctors are already retiring earlier because they see an attack on their professional opportunities. 24. Are there other ways to make health insurance available to people that would not cost as much, allow people to make their own medical decisions, and still be effective? a. No. ObamaCare is the best solution. b. Yes, there are a number of recommendations that will help lower costs and provide health care to Americans. They include economic incentives, such as tax credits and vouchers. Interstate competition among states would also spur genuine personal choice. Reforming medical malpractice liability would bring costs down. Creating private exchanges would also help reduce the number of uninsured. These are just a few reforms that would "encourage the adoption of coverage and individual responsibility while not compromising Americans' personal freedom and responsibility." . 25. Your beloved grandma is getting excellent care at a local nursing home. Her care will not be compromised under ObamaCare. a. True. b. False. Under Section 3401, Congress reduces Medicare payment updates for hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, and hospice care centers." 26. Have the costs of ObamaCare been clear from the outset? a. Well, sort of b. Absolutely c. No. The Obama administration has not been forthcoming about the costs as evidenced by this letter 27. You are only 19 years old but you have heard your pop-pop speak about Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. These are private insurance options available to Medicare beneficiaries. Will these MA plans be affected under ObamaCare? a. No. Obama respects the elderly. He would not harm their well-being. b. Yes. In Section 3201 there will be cuts to payments. In fact, "[t]he deep reductions in MA payment rates and services covered will hit low-income and minority seniors disproportionately hard. Hispanic Americans are twice as likely to be enrolled in MA plans as is the average Medicare beneficiary; African Americans are 10 percent more likely. Almost 300,000 Hispanics and over 800,000 African Americans will lose access to MA. MA and would-be MA enrollees with incomes under $30,000 per year will lose a total of $38.5 billion in health care services from PPACA cuts. 28. While I worry about your lack of commitment to schoolwork, I am encouraged by the concern you show for your grandparents, many of whom raised you. How might ObamaCare treat your grandparents in their final days? a. Your family will make end-of-life decisions privately and with your loved ones. b. The government will decide when grandma needs to be removed from life support. c. There is no provision for this situation in ObamaCare Answers: 1. B 2.A 3. G 4. B 5. A 6.A 7.A 8.A 9.A 10. B 11. A 12. G 13. C 14. D 15. D 16.E 17. Answers will vary 18. A 19. F 20. B 21. A 22. B 23. B 24.B 25. B 26.C 27.B 28. B Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com [1]Peter Ferrara. The Obamacare Disaster: An Appraisal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Heartland Institute, 2012.