Health Care
In the spring of 2011, Newt Gingrich denounced Paul Ryan’s then-current proposed federal budget as “right-wing social engineering” and argued that a “free society” should not “impos[e] radical change.” On Friday, Andrew Sullivan made a similar case against congressional Republicans’ attempts to junk ObamaCare
On Monday July 24, the parents of the terminally ill baby Charlie Gard released a statement that they would be withdrawing their petition to have their son treated. Citing the deterioration of Charlie’s condition and the loss of a "window of opportunity" they have instead opted to spend what little time they have left with their son. While many in the UK and across the world mourned the travesty and injustice of the court’s decision, others sought to justify the reasoning behind it. In a piece for The Guardian entitled “Despite Charlie Gard’s Tragic Story, We Must Respect The Process Of Our Courts,” UCL health professor, Ian Kennedy, expressed sympathy for the plight of Charlie, but ultimately justified it on the basis that “children do not belong to their parents.”
In state after state, a consensus is emerging that ObamaCare is failing the American people. ObamaCare premiums and deductibles have become so cost prohibitive that 6.5 million Americans paid $3 billion in IRS penalties last year for the privilege of opting to avoid enrolling in the program. Yet, a casual viewer tuning into a CNN panel Tuesday hosted by Kate Bolduan was led to believe that ObamaCare was a huge national asset and that repeal of the program was perhaps the singular worst policy choice made by Congress in modern times.
CNN has gone all out in defense of ObamaCare and has attacked any Republican measure to amend it. On Wednesday's New Day, virtually the entirety of the show was spent trashing Republicans. They also continuously whined about the "undisclosed" Trump-Putin meeting that took place at a dinner in front of leaders and the media. How secretive.
Republican hopes of repealing and replacing ObamaCare hit yet another brick wall in the Senate on Tuesday, effectively killing current efforts. While the other networks in the Big Three (ABC and NBC) remarked on the failure of action after seven years of promises, the reporting on CBS Evening News took on a mocking tone filled with glee. “They control the White House and the Congress, but Republicans could not deliver on the promise they've been making since the day ObamaCare became law: to repeal and replace it,” quipped Anchor Anthony Mason at the top of the program.
Republicans’ drive to repeal and replace Obamacare has hit its latest pothole, which didn’t surprise New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait. Chait observed that from 2010 through 2016, when GOPers were merely naysaying regarding the ACA, they had “cohesion.” Once they also controlled the White House, however, that unity “disintegrated…because their ideology left them unable to pass legislation that was not cruel, horrific, and repugnant to their own constituents.”
On Tuesday, the hosts and correspondents of NBC’s Today could not contain their excitement as they gloated over the failure of the Republican Senate health care bill. “For seven years Republican lawmakers have vowed to overturn ObamaCare, but this morning their latest plan has come to a screeching halt,” proclaimed fill-in co-host Willie Geist.
On CNN's New Day Tuesday morning, CNN Global Economic Analyst Rana Foroohar advocated for a single-payer health care system while co-host Alisyn Camerota misrepresented statements made by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
The Trump administration took swift action against two high ranking officials at the Manchester VA Medical Center in New Hampshire on Sunday. The firings came one day after The Boston Globe published a scathing expose on the atrocious conditions present at the VA hospital. But despite the horrendous conditions and the Trump administration’s decisive action, the Big Three Networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) ignored everything.
Amid the endless media obsession with Trump scandal allegations, important policy issues are getting short shrift. Considering that the left is happy with the status quo -- the autopilot advancement of statism -- this can only please Democrats. Based on the overwhelming trend of national and state elections since 2010, the nation now firmly rejects liberal policies. Whether or not Democrats get the message, they don't intend to move right to accommodate the electorate.
Los Angeles Times health reporter Noam Levey, in a report that appeared in various Tronc (formerly Tribune Publishing) newspapers, filed “Equal Access to Coverage at Risk," an aggressive attack on Trump and Congressional Republicans as dishonest Medicaid slashers who pine for a return to a "medical gulag," while portraying Obamacare as a savior.
In a Thursday evening dispatch, Erica Werner and Alan Fram at the Associated Press, in a virtual editorial disguised as a news report, claimed that a key element of the Republican health care currently being considered in Congress is "letting insurers sell low-cost, skimpy policies." What an insult to our intelligence. What's really "skimpy," even though the left won't acknowledge it, is the current regime known as ObamaCare.