"Death Panel" iPhone App Offers Health Care Trivia

(People Operating Technology)

Perhaps the only thing more challenging for Congress this year than passing health care legislation has been trying to explain it to the American people. Lies, distortions and a lack of understanding of the facts have all muddied the debate.

So of course, for those trying to understand health care reform, there's an app for that. More specifically, there is a new iPhone application that plays off one of the most notorious lies to come out of the health care debate: death panels.

The free iPhone and iPod Touch game "Death Panel" is "100 percent nonpolitical, nonpartisan," according to People Operating Technology, the iPhone application company that made the game.

The game puts the user in the role of a local office holder. To build a strong constituency and progress in the game, the user must stand on a virtual platform and answer questions correctly about health care from an anxious public. Hundreds of questions are incorporated into the game based off of facts from sources such as WhiteHouse.gov, StateHealthFacts.org, the bipartisan National Coalition on Health Care and FactCheck.org.

Users of the game can also learn about the funding their real-life congressional representatives have taken from health care lobbyists on the "players" feature, which uses data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

When the game is over, users can share their scores online via Facebook or Twitter, "in hopes of driving awareness and comprehension to the most important social and economic issue today," according to a statement announcing the game's launch.

[Brandon_Hunter]

Cool game, unique concept. Do you get free health insurance if you beat the game?

[anirgu]

this app is a really good idea to raise awareness of an issue that is going to cost this country a lot of money. the hot dog question got me.. hahaha

[endurorob_5]

Facts from whitehouse.gov? Really?