People woke up this morning to read a quarter-page story published in newspapers throughout the country with the headlines "Competition lacking among private health insurers". The AP story is a prime example of a so-called unbiased major media organization that has once again failed to actually check the factual accuracy of a story.
The story, based upon a report published by the left-wing Urban Institute Public Policy Center cites that health care reform would lower individual health care costs by more than $200 billion by offering a public option that would compete in the private market.
The report and article, including a nice graphic provided to print media, cites the lack of competition among private insurers due to the dominance of Blue Cross Blue Shield throughout the United States with a nearly 47% market share throughout the country.
However, Blue Cross Blue Shield is an association, not a single company. Blue Cross Blue Shield was established to provide consumers a continuity of coverage and network of coverage nationwide. It is an association of privately held insurance companies, and is comprised of separately owned Blue Cross or Blue Shield companies...
[And on and on - i.e., another fabricated hit piece against the 'demonic' health insurance industry. - snip]
The only good thing to come out of this article is a single statement by Dr. James Rohack, the president of the American Medical Association.
"When you've got the federal government involved, it can infuse money into a plan to keep it solvent even if the premiums are lower than its actual costs."
This single statement sums up the essence of the health care debate and the reality of hopeful and misleading propaganda coming from the media and the White House. Unfortunately, most local edition newspapers conveniently cut off the end of the article.
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