NPR Gets Liberty On the Rocks Reaction to Obama's Health Speech
NPR reporter Jeff Brady watched Barack Obama's health address to Congress with members of the Denver Tech Liberty on the Rocks. He interviewed numerous participants and quoted three in his report.
Amanda Teresi, founder of Liberty On the Rocks, explained why forcing insurers to ignore pre-existing conditions runs contrary to the basic purpose of insurance: "The idea is that it's health insurance. And the whole concept of insurance is that you get it before you get sick, or before something happens to you. It would be the equivalent of not having any car insurance, hitting a tree, and then calling Geico and saying you want to sign up. It doesn't make sense."
(I've written a first and second article on the topic.)
T. L. James suggested that Obama's comments about tort reform won't amount to much. James told Brady, "Tort lawyers fund an important part of the Democratic power base, their funding base for their elections. There is no way that he's going to do anything that's going to turn them away from the Democratic party."
Finally, Orin Ray said he didn't think Obama's speech really changed anybody's mind.
Brady did a nice job with his brief report. However, I wish he had mentioned the more fundamental issues. The fact that Obama wants to force everybody to buy politically-controlled insurance is a huge deal, as is the fact that Obama wants to expand subsidies. Nor did Brady mention the political causes of today's problems in medicine, or that Massachusetts has already tried -- and failed -- to successfully implement Obama's key "reforms." (I discussed all of these issues with Brady.) Yet Brady didn't have much time for his portion of the report, and he was basically fair.
Amanda Teresi, founder of Liberty On the Rocks, explained why forcing insurers to ignore pre-existing conditions runs contrary to the basic purpose of insurance: "The idea is that it's health insurance. And the whole concept of insurance is that you get it before you get sick, or before something happens to you. It would be the equivalent of not having any car insurance, hitting a tree, and then calling Geico and saying you want to sign up. It doesn't make sense."
(I've written a first and second article on the topic.)
T. L. James suggested that Obama's comments about tort reform won't amount to much. James told Brady, "Tort lawyers fund an important part of the Democratic power base, their funding base for their elections. There is no way that he's going to do anything that's going to turn them away from the Democratic party."
Finally, Orin Ray said he didn't think Obama's speech really changed anybody's mind.
Brady did a nice job with his brief report. However, I wish he had mentioned the more fundamental issues. The fact that Obama wants to force everybody to buy politically-controlled insurance is a huge deal, as is the fact that Obama wants to expand subsidies. Nor did Brady mention the political causes of today's problems in medicine, or that Massachusetts has already tried -- and failed -- to successfully implement Obama's key "reforms." (I discussed all of these issues with Brady.) Yet Brady didn't have much time for his portion of the report, and he was basically fair.
Labels: health reform, media, NPR, Obamacare
