Juan Williams Calls Out Bill Kristol For Using Health Care "Scare Tactics" (VIDEO)

On "Fox News Sunday" today Juan Williams criticized fellow panelist Bill Kristol for using what he called "scare tactics" in making the case against the current health care reform plan.

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Comments

[LetsGetToWork]

i just about dropped my spatula yesterday morning when I heard Juan question Bill. I was pleasantly suprised that he refused to condone those tactics. I wish more people would have the gumption to do that more often when the Regressives start spewing those talking points.

[MyNameIsJames]

I don't understand why people who support -- The public option - don't point out to their detractors that HMO's ration healthcare all the time by determining what they will pay for (cover) and what they will not (cover) its based on profit not the best interests of the patient. Health-care is ALREADY being rationed by the current system. Try talking to your doctor for more than 15 minutes!

[pickscrape]

Right on. When my wife moved to the UK and saw a doctor for the first time, she was *shocked* when at the end of dealing with her problem the doctor asked "Is there anything else I can help you with?" How's that for rationing?

[ClevelandTom]

Not to mention the rationing that occurs because the cost of insurance and care keeps million from getting attention when they should.

[JanSP1971]

I think almost all insurance companies ration health care. They decide what is normal and fair charges for anything a doctor or hospital does and it is always far below the amount that is charged. So.. we the lucky people that do have some form of healthcare still must decide if we can afford to have the test done the doctor has ordered. I know my family pays out half of our pay check for health insurance we seldom use for this reason, we can not afford to pay the balance of what the insurance company will not pay. I want a public option to buy into. Now is the time, President Obama is the person to deliever it to the American people.

[Pamlet]

The way I think about it is -- do you want accountable rationing by the goverrnment or unaccountable rationing by private companies? The other thing to ask people is whether insurance ought to pay for liposuction. They will, of course, say no. Well, they're in favor of rationing then. All "rationing" is is a scare word for identifying necessary vs unnecessary care.

[ClevelandTom]

Consider a government administrator and a private health insurance administrator whose next raise depends on containing cost. Which would you prefer to have deciding whether or not they will pay for a particular treatment you need?

[skeeto]

Why am I not surprised that Kristol is using scare tactics. I got so used to the Bushies hollering "ORANGE ALERT! ORANGE ALERT! to scare everyone into compliance whenever anything they did was questioned or any time they wanted anything that I now expect scare tactics. Just don't pay any attention and go on working on solutions.

[insurgent212]

A public option, with limitless subsidization from the federal government and ability to set market prices, will ultimately destroy the private insurance industry - ask any economist. Some people might be in favor of such a plan. However, my employer's HI works just fine for me, and the majority of Americans agree.

Also, keep in mind the Dem plan only insures 16 M of the some 50M uninsured - 10 M of which qualify for Medicare/Medicaid, but simply don't fill out the paperwork (a result of Government over complication and bureaucracy, the same thing that will happen under a public option)

[pickscrape]

Well, if you're alright I suppose everything's fine then and everyone should just stop whining. After all, you're fine, and that's all that matters.

[vjoseph]

Well said

[insurgent212]

I got mine through hard work and perseverance. You should try it sometime - instead of posting on HP from home while unemployed, you could post on HP from your job while getting free vision/dental and earning $1500 a week.

[BadHaBritt]

If you going to quote numbers then please use real ones and not just pluck them from where the sun never shines.

[akaJohnQ]

Maybe you could entice your employer to hire more people, and give them health insurance, too. The problem is that more and more employers are not providing insurance for their workers, because it simply costs too much. Many companies have closed down US operations and relocated their plants to Canada for one reason. The Canadian government provides health care for it's citizens. Employers are relieved of that responsibility, and of that expense. You and I are very fortunate to have company provided health insurance, but most Americans are not so lucky.

[Liberal2]

Dear "incompetent212":

This is your boss....Du­e to the on-going economic downturn, your services are no longer needed. Clear out your desk, your "HI" is cancelled immediately.

We'll almost miss you.

Sincerely,
Your former boss.

[mgray34]

Somebody call me crazy, but...

- Isn't a beauracrat, the insurance industry (kaiser), already getting between me and my doctor?
- Isn't the insurance industry already disallowing coverage for any pre-condition they deem
unacceptable?
- Isn't healthcare already being rationed out as Laura Ingle stated? Insurance companies try to spend
the least amount of money, do the least amount of tests, and try to get you out of the hospital in the
quickest amount of time, ALL IN THE NAME OF SAVING THEIR BOTTOM LINE!

France, Germany, Canada and Great Britain have world class universal healthcare programs for their citizens. The healthcare programs of the 3 European countries came out of the aftermath of WWII, where it would have been stupid to deny healthcare to people in countries that were trying to rebuild.

If people really believe that this is the greatest country, and most powerful nation on the planet, don't those same people think we can do better than our European counterparts, and neighbor in the north regarding universal healthcare?

[vjoseph]

Oh stop making sense

[LetsGetToWork]

LOL!

[ohiomark]

If you are not scared by the upcoming "health care rationing", then you have never been sick.

Considering that the government has never run anything else efficiently, why would we expect "universal health care" be the first time?

[ariveria]

we have health care rationing today. it is administered by the private health care companies. why arent you upset with that.

ah --- the republican party the party that says government cant run anything then you elect them and they prove it.

the solution is to only elect democrats.

[IowaKid]

Except for those Blue Dogs.

[katyann]

Rationing 2009: No health care except by begging for low wage earners, those with pre-existing conditions, those who have co-workers who got very sick and worried the insurance company, those who are laid off from jobs...

If you haven't been rationed out already, you should be repulsed by the fact that your neighbors have been quietly panicked by the physical and financial hardships they would not experience in any other industrialized country while you were one of the privileged who somehow got the human right to health care fulfilled.

Medicare, RUN BY THE GOVERNMENT, does very nicely for the 65+ year olds in the U.S. The disinformation brigade has been playing with your mind. Do not be afraid, Ohio. Arriveria, elect only democrats who will back a national health care plan that is a single payer, not-for-profit system. A Democrat who wants to play games with the health care profiteers is no more worthy than those who are the industry mouthpieces. Single payer will save billions of dollars every year while ensuring high quality health care for 300+million Americans. Do not be afraid.
Watch & Read eye popping facts and figures:
Slide 8 Compare and weep: www.commonwealthfund.org/.../Collins_analysiscongbills20072008ins_ figures%20­ppt.ppt
Moyers & Former Health Exec Potter:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/profile.html
July 30th Rally in Washington: Medicare Made in America for All http://www.healthcare-now.org/

[ESK]

First of all educate yourself and get your terms straight. Universal heelth care means that eveybone is covered. It is not the definition of a government run health care plan. The public option being proposed is not single payer. It's one of many choices that you will have. If you want to keep your current health care insurance then you keep it. As for rationing - it already exists. Every time you have a claim denied or you're made to pay more than you should have and every time you choose to put off a vsit to a doctor or a medical procedure because of the cost to you, rationing is taking place. It's simply being perpetrated by the private health insurance companies. Please pass this information along to your friends. Everyone needs to know the facts.

[pickscrape]

If you are not scared of the current insurance-run system then you have either never been really sick or you got lucky.

[MyNameIsJames]

Medicare is run more efficiently than private insurance! Not only that, but there is no other entity large enough to handle the challenge of health-care besides the government. Private insurers have demonstrated that they cannot hold down costs and keep accessibility at an acceptable rate.

Fundamentally the idea that health-care should be supplied through an employer is going to have to change.

[ohiomark]

Medicare is underwater. They are trillions in debt and will officially run out of money in a few years.

How is THAT efficient?

[lazercat2008]

Medicare will be bankrupt by 2018

[MyNameIsJames]

Is the private sector running health-care efficiently with costs rising at double the rate of inflation?

[lazercat2008]

Juan Williams, master of the obvious.

[vesaversa1]

Fearmongering form Fox News ,is this really news?

[BabblingBrooks]

So it is OK to use lies and scare tactics to sell the plan?

Just because Juan Williams DISAGREES doesn't mean Kristol is wrong.

The plan itself is horrifyingly scary. It will put the government in charge of YOUR BODY. It will massively increase federal spending. It will NOT save money. It will be, if Medicare is the example, rife with corruption and waste. It is the wave of the past, not the wave of the future. It is already proven a loser wherever tried.

[ariveria]

o the government in charge of my body instead of private insurance company. so what.

you mean the program run to enrich private insurance companies has corruption and waste i find that hard to believe.

if it is a loser everywhere it has been tired why are the most conservative parties everywhere it has been tried its biggest defenders.

where every it has been tried people life longer and the cost per person in health care is less.

remember private insurance companies care nothing about your self and only about making money.

[GeneralDisarray]

So Boring....­. You are the ONLY Industrialized in the world still on health care for profit!

[ohiomark]

Yeah, and there is NO other country that I choose to be treated for ANYTHING in than the United States.

[Samalabear]

I'm glad I don't watch Faux News. The "stupidity" of these people is beyond the pale. I put stupidity in quotes, however, because everything on Faux is done with intent. Every once in a while someone strays from the script because they've possibly been affected by something personally.

What is the Faux News spin on Wendell Potter?

[BadHaBritt]

You have to be very suspicious of programs or media channel that uses blatant and obvious whack jobs as commentators. Just like all the corrupt politicians 'it's only about money' to hell with everyone else.

[vgirl1]

Juan displays occassional glimmers of sanity.

He realizes that if he displays too much too often though that he will lose his job, so he doesn't..

So no real kudos are in order.

[tom90069]

i don't like juan williams but good job on calling kristol and ingraham out on the scare tactics. how does adding an option for people to choice mean you get less options?

[insurgent212]

because a public options, with limitless subsidization from the federal government and ability to set market prices, will ultimately destroy the private insurance industry. Some people might be in favor of such a plan. However, my employer's HI works just fine for me, and I think the majority of Americans would agree.

Also, keep in mind the Dem plan only insures 16 M of the some 50M uninsured - 10 M of which qualify for Medicare/Medicaid, but simply don't fill out the paperwork (a result of Government over complication and bureaucracy, the same thing that will happen under a public option)

[RS]

"...becaus­e a public options, with limitless subsidization from the federal government and ability to set market prices, will ultimately destroy the private insurance industry."

Question: by any chance, do YOU happen to own stock in a major health insurer or a major pharmaceutical company? Are you more interested in getting FILTHY STINKING RICH off our current healthcare system than in making sure that all Americans get quality healthcare? Let me remind you of what the Bible says: YOU CANNOT SERVE TWO MASTERS. That is, you cannot serve both your fellow countrymen and BIG, FAT DIVIDEND CHECKS!

[blackspeak]

You mean Juan Williams has some b@lls!!!??? What's this world coming to?