You hear them everyday. Sometimes it's on the news, or the radio, or in the breakroom at the office. Somebody will toss off a "fact" about healthcare or healthcare reform with the informed nuance of an expert in the subject matter, and you will think to yourself "that can't be right!". You want to call bullshit, but you don't have the facts at your fingertips. Meanwhile, everyone else is nodding with concerned looks on their faces. The poisoning of their minds has begun.

The first step (if this is not coming from some media directly) is to ask "Where did you get that information?" This may be followed by the sheepish admission that they heard it from a radio talk-show host, or in an email they've received. This can be followed by the question "How do you know that's true?" This can be asked politely and earnestly, but will still likely put them in a defensive position. That shouldn't be a problem - people should be able to back up their facts.

In order to help YOU back up YOUR facts, FourFreedoms Blog has put together a "sister site" to provide a "one-stop shopping" destination for getting the skinny on healthcare reform myths. The website is:

http://www.healthcarereformmyths.org

It provides a list of myths, a blurb indicating the reality relevent to the myth and (in most cases) a link to another site with more information. Today is the first day the site is online, so there are a few items that still need links. The site is also meant to be dynamic and up-to-date, so please send any myths that need to be debunked (whether they come from the right-wing or the left-wing) to [email protected]

There will be some enhancements to the site coming very soon. We will add an email submission form rather than provide a direct email address. We will provide an RSS feed so subscribers can get the latest myths in their inbox, and we'll provide keyword (tags) filtering. We may also provide tweet links for the individual items, although we'd rather not have to limit ourselves to Twitter's 140 characters.

So feel free to peruse the site now (such as it is) and provide feedback. Keep in mind that changes will occur rapidly today and tomorrow, so check back often. Feel free to forward and post the link to the site to anyone and everyone.

Healthcare reform is just too important to be scuttled by vested interests (or for purely political ideology). The truth is our friend.