Selective Outrage
While the Obama administration, leading Democrats on Capitol Hill and representatives of the insurance industry were all meeting behind closed doors, bargaining in good faith, working out the details of the health reform bill:
- President Obama publicly castigated the entire industry; the White House invited all Americans to send in their worst health insurance horror stories and pro-reform TV ads portrayed the insurance companies as the villains.
- The insurance companies secretly gave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce $86 million to run TV ads and conduct a grassroots campaign opposing the reform bill.
Which actions do you think the New York Times found deplorable? Which ones did it ignore? Answer below the fold. (No fair, peeking.)
And the winner is………the health insurance companies:
Secret political donations, which played such a large role in the elections earlier this month…cast a shadow of doubt and distrust over a huge field, raising questions about who is covertly pushing which bill and supporting which candidate.
I didn’t have to peek. The answer is obvious.
They have a new motto: All the News that Fits.
It wasn’t just that they were not outraged by the White House treachery. They didn’t even bother to mention it.
Health insurers make for a good scapegoat when politicians want to put a face on health reform. What is lost on pundits who beat up on health insurers is that all insurance is a transfer of risk and prudent insurers necessarily have to closely monitor medial loss. Otherwise, they would be insolvent.
Policy wonks often tout Medicare as an example of an efficient insurer with low overhead. Yet fraud and abuse offset any efficiency.
In spite of its liberal bent and declining news standards, I confess that I will miss the New York Times after they go bankrupt from lack of subscribers.
A sitting president will of course use rhetorical skills to get the public to follow him in the direction they want to go (GWB – You’re either with us or agin’ us).
Private industry has an obligation to negotiate in good faith which the insurance companies did not do. So I actually agree with the Times.