Health care reform is the hot topic right now. It’s all over the news and it’s become one of our government’s top priorities. President Obama and his administration talk about it quite a bit. They’ve been holding a variety of meetings and forums to discuss the topic and they’ve published several reports online discussing health reform. The official health care reform website, HealthReform.gov, hosts a variety of different resources on health reform.

We website features a “Health Reform Quiz” on the site - presumably to demonstrate how necessary health care reform really is. It poses 9 questions regarding health care, health insurance, and health reform, and then provides brief answers for each question. Although it seems like a compilation of interesting facts at first, after reading through it a few times, we don’t think its very effective. Feel free to view the complete Health Reform Quiz, but here are a few of the questions and answers that seemed unconvincing to us:

Q: Do more people die from work place injuries or from lack of health insurance each year?

A: 18,000 people die from complications as a result of being uninsured each year, while 5,657 people died from workplace injuries in 2007. In order to reduce preventable deaths it is imperative that health reform assures all Americans affordable coverage and improves patient safety.

Our Opinion: Does this comparison really matter? Why would they compare “lack of health insurance” to “work place injuries” - are they even connected? It would make more sense to compare the death rates of people with health insurance to people without health insurance. We fully understand that lack of health insurance can be detrimental to your health - but is this leading us to believe that you are significantly more likely to survive if you have health insurance? We’d like to see those statistics.

Q: True or False: Both men and women have a similar likelihood of being uninsured, but men are more likely to go into debt as a result of medical costs.

A: False: Women, especially in the deteriorating economy, are more likely to be adversely affected by the cost of are. They are 11% more likely than men to have medical debt or cost-related access problems. It is imperative that we protect families from high healthcare costs and that all Americans have quality, affordable care.

Our Opinion: I think they are missing the most important piece of the puzzle here: WHY? Why are women more likely to have medical debt? This question shouldn’t necessarily focus on the difference between men and women, but the reasons for health care discrimination. We’ve talked about gender discrimination in health insurance policies before - that should be the real topic of discussion, not who is more likely to go into medical debt. Fix the underlying problems first!

Q: Which is higher: the number of Americans who watch American Idol, or the number of Americans who lack a usual source of healthcare?

A: The number of Americans who lack a usual source of healthcare. 40 million people report that they do not have a usual source of healthcare while 25 to 35 million people tune in to watch American Idol. People most likely to experience a barrier to a usual source of care are uninsured and in the lowest income brackets. Providing a usual source of care will cost the system less and ensure better health. Health reform is necessary to reduce disparities and provide all Americans with quality healthcare.

Our Opinion: Again, this is just another silly comparison. When talking about health care, we’re considering the whole population: every single American living in this country requires health care at some point in their life. But when we’re talking about American Idol, we’re talking about a very limited portion of the population: only those who have the time to watch the show, and who are interested in that type of show. This question just seems like a feeble attempt to draw people into the issue by using the popularity of American Idol.

Honestly, it’s not that we’re trying to insult the Obama administration - we just expected more from their website. HealthReform.gov should be the best place to get information on health care reform, because it’s an actual U.S. Government web site, managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. They should provide a comprehensive, all-inclusive look at our nation’s health care system. They should discuss the advantages of health care reform, along with the disadvantages. They should talk about how they want to reform the health care system, and what it will mean to Americans. They should answer real questions, like how much this is going to cost our country, what the cost of health care will be for Americans after the reform, whether this reform plan will eliminate private health insurance companies, and how the changes will impact doctors, nurses, and health care facilities.

What health care reform questions do you have? With all the talk going on these days, it’s hard to know what to think sometimes.

“Health Reform Quiz” Questions and Answers via HealthReform.gov