March 17, 2014
The Washington Post told readers that the Republicans are putting together an alternative to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Unfortunately it substituted Republican talking points for an actual description of the plan.
At one point the article told readers:
“They would prefer to see a shift away from the federal government and to the states, with an emphasis on getting more consumers on private plans.”
In fact the Republican plan explicitly takes away authority from the states. It would have the federal government require states to accept insurance plans offered by other states. This is 180 degrees at odds with what the Post told readers.
This would be comparable to requiring the United States to allow insurance plans from insurers regulated in the Cayman Islands, Panama, or some other tax/regulatory havens. That would take away control from the United States government. This should have been pretty obvious to the Post reporters.
The other part of this claim is also bizarre. The ACA requires that people buy health care insurance from private insurers. What could it possibly mean to say that the Republicans have:
“an emphasis on getting more consumers on private plans.”
This is presumably a line that was focus group tested for appeal, since the Republicans have routinely referred to the ACA as a government takeover of the health care system. However it has no basis in reality and no place in a news article, except as a quote. Even in that case a responsible newspaper would point out to readers that the assertion is not true.
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