The four horsemen of the apocalypse are wearing Obamacare t-shirts and setting up camp between doctors and patients across this great nation. Grandma may not be shovel-ready, but death panels are being convened. Illegal immigrants will have universal health care. Abortions will be the new birth control. Or is it all hyperbole?

It goes without saying that emotions have ran at an all-time high and depending on whom you talk to, the healthcare bill passed on March 22 could impact Oregonians in many ways. Some say it's time to pack their rifles and campers and head to the hills.

"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care." - Former Governor Sarah Palin

When Maye Thompson, RN, PhD, who works in the local medical community, hears Palin talking about death panels, her blood begins to boil over.

"That's just bull----," she nearly shouted. "The death panel thing is a red herring. We roll our eyes when we hear about the death panels because it is so ridiculous."

She said the benefit to health care reform is that primary care physicians will be able to keep track of their patients.

"As it stands now, once someone is passed to a specialist, the primary care physician is out of the loop," she said. "This will address those issues."

Oregon has a special connection to the death panels myth, due to Representative Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat in Oregon's third district, co-sponsoring an amendment that would mandate Medicare pay for end-of-life counseling. That text was later removed from the final bill.

When Jerry Cohen, the director of AARP Oregon, listens to the radio or television news or reads quotes from those opposed to healthcare reform, he has this to say.

"It is false, totally false," he said. "With all the screaming, ranting and raving, even with [Blumenauer's amendment being removed], there never would have been death panels.

Cohen said the Patient Self-Determination Act, passed in the late 1980s, wasn't changed due to healthcare reform and emphasized that seniors will now be able to afford quality care as they age.

"When you hear something like this, you're screaming that's not the law." Cohen said the He points to the "donut hole" a prescription plan where seniors have to pay full price during a gap where prescription end benefits begin again.

"We can close the door on the donut hole," he said. "For 25 percent of our members in Oregon, that means looking down the pike. I won't be paying that ungodly sum of money."

"The idea that a bureaucrat somewhere will make decisions about health care and coverage I think is untenable to most Americans."

-Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK)

Thompson also takes issue with anyone thinking a physician will have to ask for approval to diagnose their patients.

"They can diagnose any time they want," she said. "They don't have to call a 1-800 number for approval. It's the treatment that is the question."

Her hope is that treatment options will increase under the healthcare plan, but it is acknowledged that insurance providers will continue to be firmly entrenched and changes in treatment options may come much later.

"It's a baby killer!"

-Representative Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) on the abortion provisions of health care reform.

Liz Delapour, spokesperson of Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, admitted that working for Planned Parenthood has caused her to tune out much of the rhetoric that surrounds abortion, but added that recent coverage has been appalling.

"It's frustrating to hear the lies and the myths, but it's part of the job," she said. "A lot of these myths have been dispelled. A lot of the scary things they are saying simply aren't true."

Although abortion opponents say a victory was won when abortion funding was stripped from the healthcare bill, Delapour was quick to point out that it won't change the number of abortions that are currently provided.

"We don't anticipate any major changes," she said.

Myths aside, understanding the bill and its thousands of provisions and interpretations is on the minds of Planned Parenthood providers.

At Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, people are being treated for a myriad of ailments and conditions. Although they come from many socioeconomic backgrounds, Delapour said each is having their healthcare needs met, even if it is an abortion, provisions of which nearly derailed the healthcare bill.

“Without a doubt this bill will expand reproductive healthcare to millions of women,” she said. There will be more preventative. It will allow women more choices.”

"YOU LIE!"

-Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) on health care reforms concerning illegal immigrants proposed by President Barack Obama during the State of the Union 2010 address.

With Arizona ratcheting up its enforcement of illegal aliens and people rallying against healthcare for the undocumented, Francisco Lopez, Executive Director of Causa Oregon, said it doesn't anger, but saddens him.

"It's demoralizing," he said. "There is nothing you can say to these people. There is not anger in my heart but I do feel sad. In this day and age ... people have a lot of hate in their heart. I feel sorry for them and pray that someday they will open their eyes and see things differently."

According to Lopez, the 32 percent of Latinos in Oregon illegally have to continue relying on the safety net of clinics. For the 68 percent who are U.S. citizens or documented workers, the healthcare bill covers their medical needs.

“We don’t see healthcare as a service, but as a right for all,” he said about the bill’s lack of provision for undocumented immigrants.

“These are human beings,” Lopez said. “They come to our country to escape poverty. They are landscapers and dishwashers and work in the fields. Any reform should affect all who live in this country regardless of immigration status.”

Oregonians for Immigration Reform and FreedomWorks Oregon did not return repeated phone calls by Salem Weekly.