Quick Fact: Beck falsely claims that under the Senate health care bill, “You don't get a single benefit until 2014”

Written by Greg Lewis

Published

During his November 19 Fox News program, Glenn Beck falsely claimed that under the Senate health care bill, “All of the benefits of this bill don't kick in until when? You don't get a single benefit until 2014.” He later added: "[G]uess what, you're not going to get jack for five whole years" after the bill is passed.

From the November 19 broadcast of Fox News' Glenn Beck:

BECK: All of the benefits of this bill don't kick in until when? You don't get a single benefit until 2014. But the taxes that we just went over, when do they start? Hmm. Wait a minute. So I'm not going to get any benefit, but I'm going to pay all of those taxes. We're taxing the American public ten years in order to pay for five years of coverage.

Well, first of all, once the coverage starts, you're never going to be able to afford it. Did somebody invent a garbage powered Delorian that can time travel when it hits 88 miles per hour? Because I'm not aware of it. You can't keep taxing ten years for taxes and only pay for five years. The space time continuum doesn't work that way.

What politician would stand at the podium and say, “I know we're in a recession, unemployment, double digits and climbing, deficit is $12 trillion -- we'll be $24.5 according to whitehouse.gov -- $24.5 trillion in ten years. But I'm going to add all these taxes here, and guess what, you're not going to get jack for five whole years. Anybody who taxes you with all of this stuff, this much, and the economy continues to go down, our deficits continue to go up, how does that politician get re-elected?

Fact: Numerous benefits from the health care reform bill would ”be available in the first year after enactment" of the bill.

According to a document put forth by Senate Democrats summarizing the “Immediate Benefits” of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act , the bill includes numerous benefits that would “be available in the first year after enactment” of the bill. Indeed, WashingtonPost.com blogger Ezra Klein published the following list of benefits that the Senate bill would provide “before 2014”:

1) Eliminating lifetime limits, and cap annual limits, on health-care benefits. In other words, if you get an aggressive cancer and your treatment costs an extraordinary amount, your insurer can't suddenly remind you that subparagraph 15 limited your yearly expenses to $30,000, and they're not responsible for anything above that.

2) No more rescissions.

3) Some interim help for people who have preexisting conditions, though the bill does not instantly ban discrimination on preexisting conditions.

4) Requiring insurers to cover preventive care and immunizations.

5) Allowing young adults to stay on their parent's insurance plan until age 26.

6) Developing uniform coverage documents so people can compare different insurance policies in an apples-to-apples fashion.

7) Forcing insurers to spend 80 Epercent of all premium dollars on medical care (75 percent in the individual market), thus capping the money that can go toward administration, profits, etc.

8) Creating an appeals process and consumer advocate for insurance customers.

9) Developing a temporary re-insurance program to help early retirees (folks over 55) afford coverage.

10) Creating an internet portal to help people shop for and compare coverage.

11) Miscellaneous administrative simplification stuff.

12) Banning discrimination based on salary (i.e., where a company that's not self-insured makes only some full-time workers eligible for coverage. [Ezra Klein's WashingtonPost.com blog 11/19/09]