Press Can't Wait For Public Option To Die

Over at Mediaite, Tommy Christopher notes the panting way the media has dug into reporting on the demise of the public option. See, now that the media believes the public option to be dead, they can finally do what they do best -- ride in and start shooting the corpse.

But was it really news when Secretary Of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius put forth that the public option is not essential to health care reform? Says Christopher, who has actually been paying attention: Not really!

Ex-sueeze me? That's the big news? This is one of those questions that come up so often at White House briefings, we can all recite the answer like a well-dressed Rocky Horror audience. "The President strongly supports a public health insurance option, but the main goal is to provide health care reform that results in quality, affordable care for every American." (throw toast at Gibbs)

Christopher notes that the press has been spoiling to declare the public option extinct from minute one. All along, the White House has been alternately floating trial balloons marked, "maybe not" and just as quickly, and reliably, walking them back. The White House, today, is once again doing this very thing: Walking back the notion that they aren't firmly committed to the public option.

Christopher notes that the battle for a public option is essentially the White House's to lose, and that the "question is whether or not they realize what's at stake."

I really can't fault any of that! And I think Christopher is spot on here, as well:

An even bigger question is, why is the media so ready to eulogize the public option? While recent polls have reflected slipping support for health care reform as it is being debated, those same polls either show overwhelming support for the public option, or they simply don't ask.

I've often remarked that the media has worked hard to avoid mentioning those polls that indicate consistent and strong public support for the public option. It has been a truth to which the media seems to have strong allergy.

That said, I'll offer a prediction. If the public option ends up off the table in a final bill, you can bet your sweet bippy that the media will suddenly rediscover those polls, loudly questioning how the White House and the Democratic majorities could have possibly failed to give their constituents the very thing for which they have loudly clamored. And this will be a very good question, asked months after it would have mattered.

MORE:
Media Eager to Report Death of Public Option [Mediaite]

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to [e-mail] -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

Comments

[pmag88]

The media has failed to accurately report the true costs as well. For instance, while it is reported that we pay twice as much and have outcomes that rank us about 15 out of 30, we never factor in the cost of bankruptcies, foreclosures, and the lost productivity of people who are sick and have no insurance. If these additional costs were factored in, perhaps we are actually paying three of four times as much as the next most expensive system. If so, what a story that would be.

[irishcarol]

If we cannot get a public option than don't pass any health reform bill.Because the health insurance will not change.It will be the biggest farce yet that congress passes.We need a bill that will keep the insurance companies honest.President Obama needs to start pushing back and tell the Republicans either you are with us or not, but we will have a public option .Lets stop playing with people health and not knowing from one day to the next if you will be cover if you or a love one gets sick.It should be a right to have health insurance for you and the family without it bankrupting you.It is time to put the fear factors back in the box and people open up there minds and listen to what is REALLY BEGIN SAID.Not the horse shit the WING NUTS are throwing around.These wing nut should be ashamed for all those lies they put out to the American public.WAKE UP WAKE UP Please.
Peace

[pwg357]

OMG the MSM is like totally gnarlly.

Ha! no effing shite. Did it ever occur to anyone that if the media is bought and paid for that it just might maybe somehow reflect the values of those who bought and paid for it????????

DUH!

"there is no war but the class war"
fakesagan 08

[Whatevah]

Bunk. The fact is that the administration has been sending signals that it may abandon the public option. That, my friends, is newsworthy. It made me spit up my morning coffee when I found out.

Plus, these reports have galvanized progressives, who seemed to think that they could quit working after Obama was elected. Fail! This is a daily struggle that isn't for quitters.

The reason the media thinks that Obama's backtracking is newsworthy is because OBAMA'S BACKTRACKING IS NEWSWORTHY! If you care about this issue, now is the time to speak out.

[Okieborn]

The Republicans, Pharma. Insurance companies want Public Option. Single payer and President Obama to FAIL !!

[eden4barack08]

Your punctuation....fail.

[irishcarol]

Those who want public option we all must start pushing back.It is time that we stop the wing nuts in this country.

[edwcorey]

"Press Can't Wait For Public Option To Die"

Misery loves company.

[BobFreukes]

I listened to Chuck Todd on hardball yesterday impatiently explain to me that we progressives don't even understand what the public option is.."ask them what it is, and they'll give you 3 different answers"-
no facts or stats given, just journalism by anecdote! It was dripping with condescension.
Then he claimed (anecdotally again) that "no more than a thousand people who voted for Obama were voting for a public option" I used to think Todd had a brain, but he's clearly just dismissive of progressives. For the record, sir, the public option is: (ahem) A government regulated and administrated payment system for private healthcare providers, similar to Medicare, which would operate on a non-profit basis to provide treatment for enrollees, without the disadvantage of for profit exclusions and recisions, and with the advantage of the bargaining power of a large group, to negotiate prices and a floor of minimum benefits. This would be for the small business and sole proprietor (like me) who cannot afford private insurance premiums, or cannot acquire private insurance due to pre-existing conditions.
See how dumb, and un-informed we are? didn't you used to be a journalist, sir ? When did you start reporting with off handed comments, without even minimal fact checking ?

[Whatevah]

With all fairness, the folks showing up at the town halls don't show this kind of sophistication.

[eden4barack08]

But it wasn't them that Todd was condescending.

[Carmando]

Chuck Todd was never a journalist.

[mdlw]

Reading the article linked below, I learned that the history of health care began for the most part in the 1920s by Baylor Hospital in Dallas. The administrator created a system that eventually evolved into Blue Cross. Blue Cross was essentially a non-profit health insurer with no restrictions that served a community in exchange for a tax break. In the 1940s, commercial insurers entered the field. Private insurers accelerated when businesses wanted to compete for labor by contracting with insurers to get around a wage control.

Truman proposed a national health care plan but was defeated by opponents because the nonprofit sector was doing just fine. Yet, as the private insurers entered the business, they rejiggered premiums by calculating relative risk, and avoided the riskiest potential customers. To survive, the Blues evolved into a for profit corporation as well.

I learned from the article that a socialist system became a capitalist system where CEOs are now making millions while cutting corners for profit. Those corners are lives. I agree with the author, capitalism cannot deliver decent health care. This country needs a single payer insurance program.

The following article by Tim Noah discusses Jonathan Cohn's new book.
http://www.slate.com/id/2161736/

CEO info
http://sickforprofit.com/ceos/
http://sickforprofit.com/

[sense11]

The Press is definitely not on the peoples side, they fear change just as much as the right wing does.

[Titus Pullo]

Yeah, that one isn't very hard: count the pharma ads on TV - especially during the evening newscasts

[irishcarol]

I say AMEN to that statement!!!!!!!!!!!!

[timberdoodle]

What does anyone expect? The American Media is corporate sponsored and have to avoid making their advertisers ticked off at their reporting.

For years the outside world has laughingly referred to CNN as the comedy channel as it cheer led an immoral and illegal invasion that accomplished nothing other than making a handful of corporations very rich while destroying the lives of many military families and the image of the United States.

[Susan60]

I have listened to the news and I have never heard anyone, not anyone, explain to people exactly what the public option is, making me wonder if perhaps they don't even know what it is. Maybe they don't know and it's "too much hard work" to find out, so they'd rather just pretend it's unpopular and stupid and can't wait for it to go away. Once it's gone they can breathe a sigh of relief that they got away once again without having to do any "hard work" asscociated with their field: you know educating the public about important issues they need to know about to make informed decisions.

[pomegrante]

MSM + Big PH@RM@= same group of individuals.Just count the amount of ph@rm@ adds on reg t.v.

[PWM]

This only shows the media is against the American working person.

[Samalabear]

So what you're saying, Jason, is that the media just wants a giant headline and hopefully riots in the streets as a result, which will give them something juicy to report about. Isn't that what this is all about? Isn't that why the media gives coverage to those rapid Repub mobs at town halls and the much quieter and orderly single-payer rallies, of which there have been some pretty big one? I mean, where was the media for the large Medicare rally in D.C. on July 30th? Of course, if Obama had been there ... And I'll leave it at that.

[irishcarol]

These same people kept there mouth shut about the invasion of the Iraq war.They knew that it was wrong.Where were they than?People wake up and think for your selves because the media again is asleep at the switch.

[Deni]

Please, quit calling these people news people and start calling them what they are: corporate shills. Every news outlet in this country is owned by a corporation who has one goal: profit. We lost real news years ago thanks to Saint Ronnie and his administration. Now if you want news, listen to the BBC. You might actually learn something other than where Michael Jackson will be buried and when.

[kewps]

I agree wholeheartedly.