Bill O’Reilly’s Know-Nothing Talking Points On ObamaCare (And Jon Stewart Too)

For the past week, the Fox News spokesman for the Divine Spirit, Bill O’Reilly, has been proselytizing his own prescription for resolving the government shutdown crisis. The centerpiece of his solution is his call to delay the Affordable Care Act’s “individual mandate” for one year. He says that big business is getting to waive their mandate for a year, so why not all of the American people.

Bill O'Reilly

The only thing wrong O’Reilly’s position is everything. First of all, Americans already have a de facto one year exemption from ObamaCare. The open enrollment period for ObamaCare extends for six months, until the end of March 2014. Anyone who does not get the required insurance by then will have to pay penalty, but it will not be due until 2015. So everyone has plenty of time between now and then to evaluate their options and make a decision that is in their best interest. Therefore, O’Reilly’s suggestion for a one year delay is moot. His notion that everybody must have insurance by January first or they will be billed immediately is simply untrue.

Secondly, O’Reilly uses as a justification for his superfluous delay proposal the previous granting of a one year waiver for the employer mandate. He reasons that if big business is granted this alleged reprieve, why not give the same break to individuals? But what O’Reilly either doesn’t know, or doesn’t say, is that the waiver to which he is referring is only going to a tiny minority of specific businesses that are not providing health insurance to their employees. Since about 96% of the impacted companies already provide such insurance, that leaves only the portion of the remaining 4% who are not prepared to comply that will be subject to the waiver. And that represents about 0.4% of the American people. Citing that miniscule piece of the program as justification for exempting everyone subject to the individual mandate is ludicrous.

When Bill O’Reilly mouths off ignorantly about subjects like these, it really isn’t particularly surprising. He does that pretty much every day. Unfortunately, his pal from the Daily Show, Jon Stewart, also got swept up in the false argument about business waivers during an interview last night with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius. And as if it weren’t bad enough that he misread the facts, he berated Sebelius in a prolonged rant over that misunderstanding. Hopefully someone on his staff will provide him with more accurate data on this for future reference.

It is plainly absurd to delay a program that is already saving millions of dollars for millions of people on the basis of such flawed reasoning. And it certainly makes no sense to push everything back because a few companies got a waiver. The Tea Party Republicans advocating this course are engaging in deliberate obstruction and obfuscation, and they must not be allowed to get away with it. Their irresponsible behavior is already having an adverse effect on them with some polls showing they are at risk of losing their majority in the House of Representatives. So I guess the old saying about silver linings is true.

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9 thoughts on “Bill O’Reilly’s Know-Nothing Talking Points On ObamaCare (And Jon Stewart Too)

  1. You really LOVE this president and making people comply with what is best for them according to government. Going after Bill O’Reilly is expected… going after JON STEWART – now that is news. Is there anything in this world you LOVE more than Barak Obama and his government???? Honestly, to say you’re on the side of the people is really a stretch. And defending the de facto “extra” year us poor slaves have before we need to pay our fine if we don’t get coverage – what a humanitarian you are – you are such a weasel – you would probably turn in your own mother to the state if necessary. We’re lucky to have guys like you watching out for us. Do you spend your free time reporting neighbors to the authorities if you see them get out of line.

    • Let me clarify so you don’t misunderstand – you defend this idea that making sure this wonderful law – I really don’t care enough about Bill O’Reilly to address that part – gets into effect so we can all be force by the federal government to buy health insurance or else get fined. It’s defense of government like this that confirms my belief that progressivism as an ideology is just another form of terrorism perpetrated on the american people. There is no act by the feds that you can’t somehow justify as being good for the people.

      • Steve, I am officially sick and tired (and bored) of your robo-comments where you make the exact same complaints that never have anything to do with the article. For instance, this article is not re-arguing the merits of ObamaCare. It is about O’Reilly’s ignorant blather.

        Nevertheless you just whine about your fixation on statism and slavery and other Randian bullshit. From now on I will be deleting any of your comments that are not substantive responses to the topic of the article. And now you can whine about censorship (which this is not).

    • Is it really..”what is best for them according to government..”?
      The Health Insurance Industry co-wrote the entire piece of legislation. People may be required to purchase insurance provided their employer does not offer it but it’s Health Insurance Corporations that they will be buying from.

      How about ‘pre-existing’ conditions. Should those with (the industry has been expanding the definition to include a vast array of things) pre-existing conditions be forced to go without? Or do they wait until they reach the age or required financial conditions to qualify for assistance? (Knowing full well that politicians in DC are always trying to reduce those programs)
      The government mandated that those with existing conditions could no longer be denied coverage.
      How is this a bad thing?
      They still have to pay something and the insurance industry still gets the money.

  2. “When Bill O’Reilly mouths off ignorantly about subjects..”

    Can someone please tell me when this doesn’t happen?

    • O’Reilly does sleep sometimes, doesn’t he? 🙂

      Of course, he doesn’t apologize when he’s wrong, either…

  3. (1) My HC premiums went up 25% in 2001. Not a peep from O’Reilly and his Republican allies about fixing exploding HC costs.
    (2) My HC premiums went up 19% in 2003. Ditto the crickets from the right-wing and O’Reilly.
    (3) My HC premiums went up 40% in 2007. Still not a peep from O’Reilly and the right-wing.
    (4) My HC premiums went up 9% in 2010. Fox News finally reports the avg. 9% jump in HC premiums as catastrophic increase in HC costs thanks to speculation of Pres. Obama’s ACA and it’s consequence’s. Strange that they didn’t give a shit about the previous major hikes In HC premiums that I and many more Americans were experiencing all the way through the previous administration. NOW O’Reilly is focused on HC!
    In December of 2012, my HC premiums went DOWN for the first time in my life(Insured since 19,now 48). Where is O’Reilly and the right-wing when my costs are going down? They’re criticizing the very person who is facilitating this cost reduction by pressuring Insurance companies to spend more on patient care rather than CEO profits.
    O’Reilly isn’t “looking out for me” when he attacks the process that helps me and many more Americans get more affordable HC whether it’s through our own Insurance carriers or through the ACA.
    I hope this is helpful to let folks like Steve in York know why I personally appreciate the work that this President has done to help me. I also hope it shows why I get pissed at charlatans like Bill O’Reilly and Fox News for deliberately misrepresenting policies like the ACA.

  4. I disagree with Bill sometimes. But some of you are exactly the kind of “pinheads” he’s always talking about. You try to spin things to suit your desires.
    The Affordable Care Act is law. And a bad one. Because of it’s attack on this countrys citizens freedom. The government has NO RIGHT to tell any citizen that they MUST have personal health insurance.
    Believe it or not, health insurance is purchased through PRIVATE companies in a Free Enterprise.
    Anyway you can talk about this forever, but bottom line, if the government had not spent our money (giving it away) it has collected from our hard working people, retirement and health care would not be an issue.

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