As previously reported here at News Corpse, the anti-ObamaCare zealots have deployed numerous attacks on the Affordable Care Act that are based on disinformation and deceit. Their offensive is still in full force as demonstrated by Fox News today.
The latest phony issue to emerge on Fox News is the false allegation that the Obama administration is deliberately punishing red states that didn’t vote for him with higher premiums for health insurance. The article published on the Fox News website says that higher premiums are…
“…more likely if you live in a ‘red state’ that didn’t vote for Obama, according to price data compiled by the Heritage Foundation. In red states, premiums for 27-year-olds rose an average of 78% on ObamaCare exchanges, whereas in ‘blue states’ that voted for Obama, premiums rose a smaller 50%.”
Setting aside the fact that the Heritage Foundation is a disreputable right-wing think tank run by former GOP Sen. Jim DeMint, a fiercely biased opponent of ObamaCare, the data imparted in their “study” is far from accurate. What’s more, Fox gets support for their story from Avik Roy, a senior fellow at the rightist Manhattan Institute, which is funded by the Koch brothers.
The main problem with the numbers presented by Fox is that they do not include adjustments by the subsidies that are available to most insurance consumers purchasing plans through the ACA exchange. Roy dismisses that fact by saying that the subsidies will still cost the federal government money, but that doesn’t address the question at hand. Consumers will still be paying less, and those who live in red states will not be subject to any partisan penalty.
The other area that may affect the average prices paid by residents of specific states is the availability of expanded Medicaid service for low income residents. It’s true that these citizens will either have to pay more or go without insurance, but that isn’t the result of any retribution by the President. In fact, it is quite the opposite. All states can choose to expand their Medicaid programs to cover these people and be reimbursed by the federal government for the cost. Governors in blue states are doing just that. However, the republican governors of many red states have declined to take advantage of that benefit. So it is the GOP governors and legislatures who are depriving their residents of affordable coverage and inflating their state’s average costs.
By accusing Obama of orchestrating some sort of revenge against the residents of states that didn’t vote for him, Fox News is again advancing a dishonest argument in the hopes of doing harm to the public perception of ObamaCare, and to the reputation of Obama. There is absolutely no truth to the allegation that Obama has sought to punish residents of red states, and the ACA does no such thing. The American people see right through this cynical scheme as evidenced in a recent poll that shows that more people want ObamaCare to be expanded or remain as is, than want it to be repealed and/or replaced.
All of this leads back to a simple question asked in these pages before: If ObamaCare is as bad as they say it is, why do they have to keep lying about it?
Using Fox logic, a strong correlation can be shown to exist between Red States with higher ACA healthcare premiums and low IQ. States with higher Premiums and KKK Membership. States with higher Premiums and higher incidence of rape. States with higher Premiums and Christian Pastor child molesters. Damn, I could go on and on with the correlations that exist between States paying higher Premiums and something we find in Red States. I can’t believe I said ‘Fox logic.’ Haha
LOL. Excellent points.
I note the Fox Pods have their little “Tell us your story about ObamaCare,” to which they might have added “Be sure that it’s something we can misinterpret – otherwise we will have no reason to actually print it.”
Yeah. What do you think the odds of them covering your story if you got a better plan for less money?
They’ll never find one of those as they don’t exist.
The aca has been nothing but great for me since the very beginning. Once Vermont rolls out single payer, things will only get even better. See that? Further perfecting the state of life is something that WORKS and only solidifies my faith in the people directing their government to do what they want. Pretty soon I’ll never have to deal with shitty, greedy ass insurance companies ever again!!
You forgot to mention you won’t need to bother running your own life either as you’ll be told what to do with you new Big government programs. You probably won’t need to bother to work either as those of us who still actually produce will be picking up your tab – Yes, we’re on the right track, if becoming a loser was the end goal. Do you call your state switchboard when you need some advice on how to live?
Your overuse of hyperbole makes you look like a dumbass. Do you think that government programs also release chemicals into the air that destroy one’s will to succeed? Where does the view that government programs do that come from? How does one become convinced that whatever the government does is aimed at destroying free will forever and ever?? I hope the bliss of being obtuse was all you hoped it would be.
PS, I’m still waiting on all those reinforcing facts, big dog. Unless of course you think purposeful hyperbole and extremism counts as fact. School me brotha. Let’s have it.
And your demands that you be taken care of by all of us because you can’t make it on your own is tiring. I’m not interested in supporting your ass – stop playing video games and get some useful skills so you can get your hands out of the taxpayers pocket. Maybe you can finally get a job paying more than minimum wage, which I assume is your skill level given your general demand that society get with it and make your life a bit easier. You provide enough in your posts to support all my accusations of your need for constant help from all of us.
I think you need some tough love and an attitude adjustment. I know I’m kind of a jerk when it come to this line of thought, but maybe you need clear the smoke and cobwebs from you brain cavity and stop waiting for the help that is never coming from government. Of course you will need to put some effort in, but you’ll be better off in the end – and you’ll feel so much better.
What facts do you want? I assume it’s something I claimed – tell me what I claimed that needs some facts for you. If it’s your life – I can’t fix what you’ve got.
That’s it Steve, talk as if you think you know me and double down on all that hyperbole. I’m a college student and I’ll have a degree in a couple months, and I plan on getting another one. Those the kinds of skills you talkin about? Does that jive with what life you think I lead? Where all I want is for soldiers to hold you up at gunpoint and take their overlords taxes from you to pay my rent?
See, I was only ever old enough to start paying attention to politics at the ass end of the bush administration. Before I paid close attention everyday, I was actually what my parents were. A republican. But then I realized that my future was pretty dependent on them. In that in this new economy, even more so after 08, it takes money to either get an education or start a business. You need to have money and spend it in order to build a comfortable life for yourself, and if you don’t have any then you’re most probably shit outta luck. Scholarships aren’t infinite and no one has worked their way to CEO from the mail room in decades. Either you count on nepotism for work, or you spend money to get a degree. And that’s fuckin bullshit. It used to be that a company that built something would train you and hire you, but of course Chinese workers can do it for less and that means more for the top guys. Environmental and worker safety regulations? Not in china. Americans were flipped the bird by rich fucks that just wanted more and more, so fuck everyone else including my own country cause I want more!! The point, Steve, is that in the past thirty years conservative rich assholes felt better about employing Chinese people in squalid conditions and paying them shit because of one universal fact of corporate America. Fuck you, I’m gonna get mine even if it destroys my own country!! I’m sure if I was 20 years older, Steve, I would see things your way. My bootstraps would be staring me in the face asking me what the fuck I saw wrong with flipping burgers or digging ditches for my whole life and working hard toward a phantom goal of financial comfort while always telling myself that ever rising health care costs, food prices, fuel prices, property and credit bubbles, and war weren’t my problem because I work hard and I’ll make it one day!!
The life you idolize, Steve doesn’t exist for the majority of us. It’s only possible for those that can afford it. If you don’t start out with money to spend, you’re fucked and doomed to a life of diminished quality making shit tons of money for someone else. I have tried so hard to understand why you refuse to see that. I’ve tried SO HARD to get you to put valid arguments behind your positions but you always just dig into all that hate and contempt and use hyperbolic bullshit as if it’s accurate and relevant.
You can think whatever you want man, just know that I’ll always be here to tell you how wrong you are. Not that we disagree, but that you’re wrong. Keep letting those vices get the better of you, keep letting your bubble get thicker and ever more opaque. I’ll be here to tell you…
So you’re scared…that’s the first thing I’ve understood from you. I would be too if I was in school now vs. when I graduated. But you still put your faith in the wrong people – democrats, republicans, whatever – they’re all the same and they don’t give a shit about you – just the power you allow them to have. And I’m not sure what life you think I idolize – but it’s only to be happy and free to do for myself and my family – nothing more.
I’m not sure what bubble you think I inhabit – I went to college, got a job, worked hard, am raising a family, saving for retirement, etc – exactly what kind of bubble do you think I’m living in? If anyone here isn’t clued in, it’s you – I thought I new stuff when I graduated college, then life really schooled me and showed me how little I really knew. 20 years of “real life” changes your perspective, you haven’t even started that journey yet.
correction – “knew stuff” not “new stuff”.
Do you think that the fact that you purposely miss the point goes over my head? Why do you think that that helps you? That’s the obtuse thing there big guy, it’s just confusing when you act like it works. Or that you pick out one sentence from all that and act like that’s all i said? The life you idolize/the bubble you’re in? Did i not spell it out?? I’m pretty sure that part was hard to miss….
I’m scared??….good god, you go out of your way to miss the point.
you fail to mention the law is the biggest disaster since prohibition.