How Hannity and Fox Lie About Obamacare

Last Friday night Sean Hannity paraded three families onto his set to tell their Obamacare horror stories. Eric Stein of Salon.com, spoke with the families and found that all of the claims presented on Hannity’s show were false.

Paul and Michelle Cox of Leiscester, N.C. claimed that because of Obamacare, they had to cut employees back to part time status.? Sorry Sean, not true, as Mr. Cox revealed in telephone conversation with Stein that their construction business employed just four people and only businesses with at least fifty full time employees, his business was not required to provide health insurance coverage at all.

Under the new Affordable Care Act, beginning in October 1, 2013, employers of under 50 full time employees are able to go to the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP), part of the Health Insurance Marketplace created under Obamacare. ? These small businesses can utilize this exchange if they choose to provide employees health insurance coverage but it is not required.

Mr.Stein also pointed out that the only requirement that Obamacare imposes on small business owners is that:

??…workers must be notified of the existence of healthcare.gov website?

Then there was Allison Denijs, who lamented about the letter she received from her present insurance carrier, terminating that policy, replacing it with a new policy that would presumably now cover one daughter with a pre-existing condition not covered under the previous policy, raising her annual cost from $13,000 to $20,000.

These complaints seemed more related to the family buying insurance on the open market since her husband left an employer provided health insurance policy behind when he left to open his own business, a problem for people who do not get employer provided coverage that the Health Insurance Exchange Program established under the ACA was designed to fix.

Mrs.Denijs told Stein that while she might check for a new, lower cost policy through the exchange, Stein confirmed a policy could be found for an annual cost of $7,600, she thought the President;?”should have focused on tort reform as a solution to bringing down the price of healthcare.?

Tort Reform has long been one of the false distractions used by Conservatives as how to lower healthcare costs. This claim has no application when considering National healthcare policy as Tort Law is a State issue and not Federal.? Further, in States where limitations on Medical Malpractice Awards have been implemented, like Texas, there is no evidence that Tort Reform has any real effect on lowering healthcare costs.? West Virginia has also had a similar Medical Malpractice Tort Limitation law and Florida is now moving forward with a version as well.

The truth is that medical malpractice costs ?are not among the primary drivers of health care costs, and assuming a high-end estimate of a 0.5% yearly savings from tort reform it is clear that malpractice is a drop in the bucket?.

Then there was Robbie and Tina Robison of Franklin, TN.? They too had no employer provided health insurance.? The Robbie’s claimed their insurance agent informed them that their present policy would be replaced with one costing 50 to 75% more annually. Since they were opposed to Obamacare, they had no intention of checking out the availability of a lower cost option through the Health Insurance Exchange Program established under the ACA, where Stein found one that would have lowered their annual cost by 63%.

Tina Robison revealed to Eric Stein that her husband was self-employed as a Christian Youth Motivational Speaker.? Mrs. Robison also told Stein that she didn’t like the idea of including coverage for things like maternity, prenatal, and pediatric care in the new policy, as she did not need these coverage’s.? Perhaps, she and her husband were also against the inclusion of coverage for contraception as well?

The ACA, among other things, removes discrimination against women, thus removing the ability of insurance companies to consider pregnancy a pre-existing condition or to charge more for women simply because as women they might possibly get pregnant.? This is the way all insurance works.

By spreading the cost among everyone, including the young who are relatively healthy and absent an emergency not likely to seek? medical care, and by eliminating the pre-existing condition exclusion, everyone can benefit through lowered premiums across the board.

Could it be that Mrs. Robison objects to the mandate beginning in 2012, requiring all new health insurance policies, although faith based and religious based institutions can opt out, to include coverage for birth control?? Could it be that Mrs. Robison also believes that she would now be required to pay for abortion services in her policy even though the fact is that you do not have to pay for that coverage unless you want it?

Thanks to Salon.com and to Eric Stein for helping expose another example of Hannity, Fox, and their friends, staging false and misleading reality TV as part of the overall Conservative effort to demonize, misstate, and gum up the works as Obamacare is rolling out.

I wonder what James O?Keefe, the fake ACORN pimpster used by the later Andrew Breitbart, is up to these days?? Perhaps Mr. O?Keefe might soon be appearing on an FNC show real soon, exposing the next Conservative false claim about the ACA?

Edited by SS

I am the voice of my human parents. Dad, 59, mom 57, both retired lawyers. Dad worked privately as a personal injury lawyer in the Philadelphia, PA area before retirement. He has a BA in Political Science, a Masters in Secondary Social Studies Education and he did some public school teaching before retiring again. Mom also has a BA in Political Science and she spent her entire 33 year career working as an attorney for a US Defense Department Agency located in Philadelphia, PA. She spent the last four years of her career as the Chief Counsel. She retired in April of this year. I have two human brothers, both Graduates of the George Washington University. My older human brother is working his way up in Airport Management at the Philadelphia International Airport. My younger human brother is a Peace Corps veteran.