For four years Fox News has been furiously trying to frighten people away from the benefits of the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare). They have shamelessly manufactured horror stories, disseminated lies, and advanced the most ludicrous conspiracy theories about the health insurance law that has made access to medical care available to millions, some for the first time in their lives.
For more dangerous and despicable lies from Fox…
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One of the most notorious myths promoted by Fox News was the assertion that ObamaCare contained provisions for a “Death Panel” that would have the power to decide who lives and who dies. It was invented by radical anti-healthcare activist Betsy McCaughey and popularized by radical dimwit Sarah Palin. There was never any truth to the charge, but that didn’t stop Fox News from devoting thousands of hours of airtime to planting false information into the minds of their gullible audience.
Sadly, there are consequences for this sort of brazen deception that a Pennsylvania man discovered just before it was too late, thankfully. Dean Angstadt was aware that he had a serious health problem when it became too difficult for him to continue his work as a logger. However, he was uninsured and refused to sign up for ObamaCare because, as he told the Washington Post, he…
“…listened to what the GOP had to say about Obamacare, and not so much to what the Democrats had to say. As for his media diet, Anstadt says he goes online for some of his news, but when it comes to television, ‘Fox News, of course, and that’s basically what I watch on TV.'”
As his condition worsened, his friend eventually persuaded him to check out his options on the ACA exchange. He found an insurance plan with a monthly premium of $26.11, and signed up. Within a month he had life-saving surgery to replace a failing heart valve. And what does he think about ObamaCare now?
“A lot of people I talk to are so misinformed about the ACA,” Angstadt said. “I was, before Bob went through all this for me. I would recommend it to anybody.”
“I probably would have ended up falling over dead” without the surgery, Angstadt said. “Not only did it save my life, it’s going to give me a better quality of life.”
“For me, this isn’t about politics,” he added. “I’m trying to help other people who are like me, stubborn and bullheaded, who refused to even look. From my own experience, the ACA is everything it’s supposed to be and, in fact, better than it’s made out to be.”
This is the new opinion of a man who previously was so adamantly opposed to ObamaCare that he wouldn’t even look at the website. And his opinion was shaped by exclusive viewing of Fox News and the dishonest smear job they conducted on ObamaCare. Were it not for his friend insisting that he give it a try, Angstadt would not be here today to tell his story.
You can’t help wondering how many other people are in the same position as Angstadt. How many others were deceived by Fox, and the Republican liars, into delaying critical medical care? And how many have actually died because they never found out that Fox was lying to them?
The truth is out there, as Florida’s Republican governor Rick Scott learned when he visited a senior center to “warn of the dangers of Obamacare and hear horror stories about the law.” Instead, he was pummeled with positive impressions by folks who were grateful for the benefits the ACA provided.
So if you are still looking for death panels, you have found them. They are the Republican committees in Congress that have repeatedly tried to denigrate and repeal ObamaCare. And they are in the editorial suites and studios of Fox News, where the wealthy executives and pundits never have to worry about how to pay for their medical care.
And we await comment from the FoxPods, which must take one of two forms.
1) Ignore everything – this didn’t happen, move along now…
2) This guy obviously must be a democrat and therefore he’s obviously lying, don’t believe anything he says.
You can rest assured that each and every person on Fox telling people not to take out insurance have insurance for themselves and their family.
Of course! And if you ask them, I’m sure they’ll tell you they DESERVE it, because to them everything is a commodity that can be bought and sold like pork bellies, even health care. The reasoning goes, if a person can’t afford insurance then they just don’t deserve it. The poor will never learn to be more successful unless they are punished and made to be miserable for their “choices.”
Death Panel: Well, here is the beginning…
.http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20140430/NEWS/304309938?AllowView=VDl3UXk1TzlDZlNCbkJiYkY0M3hlMGVxajBVZENlND0=&utm_source=link-20140430-NEWS-304309938&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mh-alert
I’m not sure what you think that proves. It’s a preliminary, non-binding finding from a Medicare agency – nothing to do with ObamaCare. In fact the article notes that under ObamaCare insurers are required to cover the procedure. And the same may be true for Medicare in the future after further research.
They are so good at the bait and switch. Thanks debunking Truga. I was going to. I have decided that every time one of my Facebook friends posts a half truth or outright lie, I am pushing back. Probably lose some friends but who cares. So tired of them just throwing sh*t out and others taking it as gospel.
Fox not News is a criminal organization headed by criminal Roger Ailes. This guy is lucky he listened to someone he trusted instead of the know-nothings at Fox. I wonder if he still watches that ridiculous network after his experience?
Um…yea, or this dumbass could have just bought insurance like the majority of other working people in this country and had his surgery. He didn’t need the ACA…they were selling insurance before the government “saved” everyone. And no, I am not a republican or a conservative…I am a self sufficient free thinker.