***NEWS RELEASE***

 

For Immediate Release

April 7, 2014

 

CONTACT:

Deborah Hamilton, Hamilton Strategies, 215.815.7716, 610.584.1096, DHamilton@HamiltonStrategies.com                           

7.1 Million Is Not the Magic Number

 

Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom Says Obamacare Supporters Shouldn’t Celebrate So Soon

 

ST. PAUL, Minn.—The White House is celebrating 7.1 million sign-ups to the government health care plan now that the March 31 deadline has come and gone.  

But one patient freedom organization says the President shouldn’t celebrate just yet.

The real numbers actually tell a much different story, according to Twila Brase, president and co-founder of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, www.cchfreedom.org), a Minnesota-based national organization, marking its 20^th anniversary this year, whose goal is to preserve patient-centered health care and protect patient and privacy rights.

“The Obama Administration is high-fiving itself over 7.1 million signups to a flawed federal health care system,” Brase said, “but the reality of these numbers is quite different. First of all, these 7.1 million are only sign-ups, or those who have simply created an account to research their options for government health care. We don’t know how many just signed up or how many paid or how many will keep paying.”

Brase says there are other sets of numbers Americans should focus on:

• 4.5 million have seen canceled policies, with 16 million canceled policies expected.
• $70 billion a year in lost wages and the equivalent of 2.9 million lost jobs.
• $5,000 to $10,000 deductibles.
• $6,350 in out-of-pocket expenses for individuals and $12,700 for families.
• 200% to 600% premium increases for “young invincibles.”
• 68% of individual policies offer narrow networks, up from 33% last year.
• 44% of New York doctors refuse to participate in Obamacare, and some top hospitals nationwide don’t accept all Obamacare policies. Furthermore, just four of 19 nationally recognized cancer treatment centers are available in all Obamacare polices.
• 40% of small employers are expected to dump employees into the Obamacare Exchange.
• Families making $60,000 will be fined $1,500 by the IRS if they don’t enroll.

Brase says signing up for government-run health care coverage puts Americans’ private medical data at risk, compromises care, ties the hands of medical professionals and takes more money out of Americans’ pockets. CCHF has outlined three legal ways to avoid the flawed system:

1. Buy private insurance outside of the government exchanges, such as a private policy, employer-sponsored coverage or private insurance exchange.
2. Pay the penalty tax in 2015 for being without coverage in 2014, either $95 or 1 percent of your income, whichever is greater—this is less expensive and less risky than high government premiums.

1. Claim one of 14 Obamacare exemptions.

Earlier this year, CCHF launched its “Refuse to Enroll” billboard campaign to educate the public on the dangers of Obamacare and the legal alternatives to enrolling in the government-run system.

Twila Brase shares health care-related news with the public in her daily, 60-second radio feature, Health Freedom Minute, which airs on more than 150 stations nationwide on the American Family Radio Network and 90-plus stations on the Bott Radio Network. During the daily features, listeners can learn more about the agenda behind proposed health care initiatives and policies and what they can do to protect their health care choices, rights and privacy. Brase, a public health nurse and health care freedom advocate, informs listeners of crucial health issues, such as the intrusive wellness and prevention initiatives in Obamacare, patient privacy and the need for informed consent requirements, the dangers of “evidence-based medicine” and the implications of state and federal health care reform.

 Twila Brase has been called one of the “100 Most Powerful People in Health Care” and one of “Minnesota’s 100 Most Influential Health Care Leaders.” She has been interviewed by CNN, Fox News, Minnesota Public Radio, NBC Nightly News, NBC’s Today Show, NPR, New York Public Radio, the Associated Press, Modern Healthcare, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Washington Times, among others. Brase shares health care-related news and commentary with the public in her daily, 60-second radio feature, Health Freedom Minute, which airs on nearly 350 stations daily, including the 150-station American Family Radio Network and the 80-station Bott Radio Network. Health Freedom Minute is sponsored by the Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, a patient-centered national health freedom organization based in St. Paul, Minn. CCHF supports patient and doctor freedom, medical innovation and the right of citizens to a confidential patient-doctor relationship.

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For more information or to interview Twila Brase, president and co-founder of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, contact Deborah Hamilton, Hamilton Strategies, 215.815.7716, 610.584.1096, DHamilton@HamiltonStrategies.com.###

For more information or to interview Twila Brase, president and co-founder of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, contact Deborah Hamilton, Hamilton Strategies, 215.815.7716, 610.584.1096, DHamilton@HamiltonStrategies.com.

 

 

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