By OcJim
Fox News was so cocksure that the Supreme Court was going to gut what they call “Obamacare” that they didn’t bother to read beyond the first page of the ruling on Thursday morning. Several reporters boldly declared – and repeated — in an enunciated, emphatic tone: “The individual mandate has been struck down!!”
Media reporting has become such a farce that comedy often thrives from their gaffes and distortions. Steven Colbert did a lengthly parody of the Fox — and the CNN gaffe: after replaying the repeated words of the Fox reporters, Colbert said, “No, it has not! You suck at news!”
The Youtube coverage follows:
What does that say for our media and its representation of news? It starkly reveals what we already know, that Fox News — and other mainstream news sources sometimes follow — is so right-wing-biased in its views that many – at least Fox News – have great difficulty reporting anything favoring the opposition, even stark truth, perhaps believing their viewers will never watch the truth from other sources.
Right-wing forces, according to a recent Rachel Maddow show, have spent $250 million to demonize the Affordable Care Act, carrying the name of their hate-object, in “Obamacare.” At the same time, Democrats have done an extremely poor job of revealing its great benefits for the majority of Americans. In addition, Democrats have made the right-wing job easy by legislating 4 years (2014) after its passage before most of it takes effect, making conservative distortions easier to believe for Americans not affected for that long.
Without the lies and distortions often heard from the right, Paul Krugman’s column provides a straightforward accounting of who gains by the Affordable Care Act’s constitutionality — ordinary Americans. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) would cover most contingencies that would render Americans without health care.
By 2014 thirty million additional Americans will have health insurance coverage. These are people who don’t now have coverage, outside of emergency rooms, if one can be found to serve them. At any time, due to a change in your status, you could be one of those.
You may have coverage now by the company you work for, but if you lose your job, your company changes its coverage standards, or such, you would be left without. Family hard times – an illness, a foreclosed home, a divorce – could render health care unaffordable for you and your family.
The ACA would provide crucial financial help for those who can’t afford coverage. It would require companies to provide affordable health care to those with a pre-existing condition or anyone whose insurance company might cancel for being sick.
Unless you belong to that tiny class of wealthy Americans who are insulated and isolated from the realities of most people’s lives, you are a winner. That includes you, your friends, your family, the people you work with, your neighbors, the poor, the struggling, the hard working, those with multiple jobs that don’t offer coverage – the list is almost endless — with the exception of the rich.
The mandate aims to penalize anyone, especially the young and healthy, who don’t opt for coverage, a decision that unforeseen circumstances could make a bad one. Of course, full participation in health care makes the cost less for everyone.
ACA does not solve the problem of cost. A for-profit system cannot do that, for it is clear that our system – even now – has double the per-capita cost of other advanced countries, surprisingly, with life-expectancy low compared to France, England, Canada, the Netherlands, and other advanced countries, countries with mostly one-payer, not-for-profit systems.
The Affordable Care Act is not a cure-all, but it is a good start.
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