Michelle Malkin » Attention, ABC News: Get John Stossel on your Obamacare infomercial

Attention, ABC News: Get John Stossel on your Obamacare infomercial

By Michelle Malkin • June 18, 2009 10:46 AM

ABC News says it welcomes “thoughtful” and “diverse” voices on its White House health care special.

Why not include ABC 20/20 anchor John Stossel? I have confirmed that he has not been asked to be a part of the programming.

Why not?

When it comes to thoughtful and diverse perspectives on freedom, government, and the marketplace, no one matches Stossel.

Here is his report on the state of health care from 2007. An excerpt:

There are many problems with health insurance, but that doesn’t mean we should put the government in control. If it’s decided that health care should be paid for with tax dollars, then it’s up to the government to decide how that money should be spent. There’s only so much money to go around, so the inevitable result is rationing.

It’s just the law of supply and demand. Lowering prices increases demand. Lowering the price to nothing pushes demand through the roof. Author P.J. O’Rourke said it best: “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”

When health care is free, governments deal with all that increased demand by limiting what’s available.

The reality of “free” health care is that people wait. In the United Kingdom, one in eight patients waits more than a year for hospital treatment and the British government recently set its goal to keep wait times to less than 18 weeks that’s more than four months! In Canada, almost a million citizens are waiting for necessary surgery and more than a million Canadians can’t find a regular doctor. In the small town of Norwood, Ontario, a weekly drawing is held in which a townsperson wins the right to access the town’s one family doctor.

Governments ratchet down health-care costs in different ways. Doctors went on strike last year in Germany because their government’s system pays them less than they thought they deserved and forces them to work thousands of hours of unpaid overtime. In the United Kingdom, one hospital was inspired to save money money by not changing sheets daily. British papers report that instead of washing the linens, nurses were told to just turn the bedsheets over.

Government is less the answer to our health-care crisis than the problem. It was our government that helped to create the absurd system in which two out of three Americans get health insurance through their employer. In a country where four in 10 Americans change their job every year, this system makes little sense; it leaves people like Readling without coverage when they need it most.

The government also makes insurance expensive by mandating the medical services that policies must cover. Required services vary state by state and include massage therapy, pastoral counseling, acupuncture, hair prosthesis and dentures. Such mandates are a reason why an individual policy in New Jersey costs around $4,000 a year while a policy in Iowa costs only a third of that. Yet insurance regulations make it illegal for someone in New Jersey to buy a policy from out of state…

…The more people control the money they spend on their own health care, the more people shop around and the more providers compete to attract patients by lowering prices while improving quality. It’s putting individuals in control that could turn our health-care sector into the vibrant, competitive marketplace that we see in nearly every other area of our economy.

After all, it’s our body and our health. Shouldn’t we be in control of how our health-care dollars are spent?

Harvard’s Herzlinger said, “Who should decide whether you live or die? Do you want the government to decide? Do you want a health insurer to decide? Who’s gonna make that decision? Is it gonna be a government? Is it gonna be an insurer? Or is it gonna be you and me?”

Putting individuals in control of our health rather than our employers or the government is a better way to cure what ails America’s health system.

Send your feedback/suggestions to ABC News here.

More contact info:

ABC SWITCHBOARD (ASK FOR NEWSROOM) 212.456-7777
NEWSROOM fax 212.456.2795
ABC News president David Westin’s fax: 212-456-4292

Westin is on twitter at @David_Westin.

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#723877

On June 18th, 2009 at 3:13 pm, John Deaux said:

On June 18th, 2009 at 1:44 pm, vinny said:
sonofidy and aloha, I do not disagree with you in that if you want to pay for speedy care, you should have that option.

So what do you think will happen when there are only 5 spots for open heart surgery and a very rich person is 6th in line? Someone you love who happens to be fifth in line will wait because the right palm was greased.
#723878

On June 18th, 2009 at 3:14 pm, Misscheryl said:

RSS – thanks for linking the picture of all the presidents. I loved it – hahahahaha!!!!
#723883

On June 18th, 2009 at 3:25 pm, sonofdy said:

Someone you love who happens to be fifth in line will ~~wait~~ die because the right palm was greased.
#723885

On June 18th, 2009 at 3:27 pm, vinny said:

John,
Are you arguing that medical treatment is a right? If that is your argument, then you should support government management. I think pasadena phil has the best example so far. If this was canada, you wouldn’t get to see the plastic surgeon and your hand would be essentially useless right now.
#723886

On June 18th, 2009 at 3:27 pm, yohannbiimu said:

I wonder if ABC will allow Stossel to breathe on syllable in opposition to Obama’s policies when they have put the United States in an unstoppable tailspin to ruin. When doom is staring them in the face, I wonder if they’ll finally dispense with the glowing propaganda about how THE ONE is leading us toward happy days and glad tidings of great joy.
#723888

On June 18th, 2009 at 3:29 pm, vinny said:

also john, if you want the government option, person number 1-5 will not get their heart surgery either because there will not be a facility capable of doing it.
#723899

On June 18th, 2009 at 3:43 pm, JustAThought said:

Wait a minute!! These are actual words he BELIEVES? A member of the MSM and employee of the All Barack Channel? He actually said/wrote this? Does his employer know he said this? Astounding! Absolutely astounding. Good Lord, there may be, just may be, hope for us yet.
#723912

On June 18th, 2009 at 4:07 pm, love2rumba said:

RSS, Gwen Ifill was already exposed by the likes of Ms. Malkin et al for Ifill’s one sidedness for Obama (when it was Hillary vs. Obama) and other conmmnents she had already made before she came up to the VP debate between Sarah Palin and Joseph Biden.

You are being -in this case- selectively ignorant..
#723921

On June 18th, 2009 at 4:19 pm, Ragspierre said:

love2rumba said:

RSS, Gwen Ifill was already exposed by the likes of Ms. Malkin et al

And don’t forget about her vested interest in the form of her book on THE ONE…
#723926

On June 18th, 2009 at 4:28 pm, John Deaux said:

On June 18th, 2009 at 3:27 pm, vinny said:

I can’t imagine how you would get my post as anything but opposition to government care and rationing, but okay.

When the supply of available surgeons, operating rooms, and hospital beds decreases due to government run health care, people will accept bribes to allow access to limited resources. People with money will still be able to get the same level of care as they are now, but the middle class on down will take a back seat due to their inability to bribe.

That’s the inherent danger of the government plan. They will allow “supplemental” insurance, etc. The really well off haves will still have, but the ranks of the have nots will swell.
#723951

On June 18th, 2009 at 5:08 pm, love2rumba said:

And don’t forget about her vested interest in the form of her book on THE ONE…

Indeed…I had forgotten about that book, Ragspierre.
#723960

On June 18th, 2009 at 5:18 pm, T-Bone said:

My employee only heath care insurance including medical, dental, and vision costs my company $300 a month or $3,600 a year. To cover 350 million people, that would be $1.2 trillion a year in insurance premiums.

I saw a website that said medical care spending was $2.4 trillion in 2007. That same site said individual premiuims averaged $4,700 per year which is only $1.6 trillion

That doesn’t add up. Insurance takes in $1.6 trillion but costs are $2.4 trillion. And not everyone pays an insurance premium, but they would pay the medical costs.
#723964

On June 18th, 2009 at 5:26 pm, sonofdy said:

but but but a reduction in paper work will reduce that 2.4 trillion a year by ALOT right!!!!

/obamabot mode off.
#724019

On June 18th, 2009 at 7:07 pm, MTConservative said:

How can any thinking person read Stossel’s words and not be convinced? You’d have to be, well, you’d have to be a liberal, or worse, to not see the wisdom in his words.

Trust the market; and always be suspicious of the government.
#724020

On June 18th, 2009 at 7:15 pm, gco said:

The only way ABC would have Stossel participate in this propaganda is if they were going to waterboard him (waterboarding is only considered to be wrong by the left when it’s used against someone who wants to harm America).

Could this infomercial be, in part, the Obama administration’s way of making ABC atone for allowing Stossel to air his various pro-liberty viewpoints? And they sure couldn’t have been happy about Charlie Gibson’s campaign season question pointing out that lower Capital Gains tax rates translated into higher tax revenue. Ol’ Charlie has probably been given plenty of reasons to be genuinely pleased at the opportunity to host their show. But he still can claim a little bit of dignity: what used to be called a “Lewinsky” is now known as a “Brian Williams,” not a “Charlie Gibson.”
#724022

On June 18th, 2009 at 7:17 pm, Papa Louie said:

The romance between Obama and the MSM has gotten so bad that people have been asking them to “get a room!” Now ABC has gone one better and is moving in with Obama. But taking cameras into the White House with them kinda defeats the purpose. The whole reason we asked them to get a room in the first place was because we’re all sick of watching them making out. Doing it in the Lincoln bedroom doesn’t make it any more appealing.
#724053

On June 18th, 2009 at 9:22 pm, jencab said:

Stossel would be the perfect journalist for this. Gibson and Stephanapolous are probably the ones that are “questioning” this. We all know they saw birds chirping and they themselves were crying when Obama was inaugurated.
Jake Tapper is not much in my opinion. He still has the Obama thrill up his leg. But not as apparent as many of his colleagues.
#724059

On June 18th, 2009 at 10:20 pm, right_on said:

To cover 350 million people, that would be $1.2 trillion a year in insurance premiums.

True, no one has explained how those currently too po’ to have insurance are going to be able to pay simple co-pays, or the remainder of the bill once insurance pays it’s share. Of course, they’ll have to raise taxes on the “very wealthy,” you know, those making over $60,000 a year, in order to cover those costs for them.

It’s like saying, “We’re going to give everyone a car who cannot pay to have one,” without addressing maintenance, gas and oil, and, oh yeah, insurance…

To think voters actually put these people in office, and keeps re-electing them, makes me wonder what the current average I.Q. is for those living in America who vote, legally or otherwise. I think we would be shocked.
#724061

On June 18th, 2009 at 10:31 pm, Ragspierre said:

True, no one has explained how those currently too po’ to have insurance are going to be able to pay simple co-pays, or the remainder of the bill once insurance pays it’s share.

Oh, that is simple…

you give them another “tax credit”, like the last one. Child’s play, see?

And if you believe that one, I just saved 112,000,000 million jobs today.

And nobody in the Federal government is interested in running a car company.

And the thought of anyone setting wages in the financial industry is just silly-talk.

And….
#724066

On June 18th, 2009 at 11:13 pm, starlightwoman said:

Does this remind anyone of Joseph Goebbels or is it just me?
#724090

On June 19th, 2009 at 12:55 am, Ragspierre said:

http://townhall.com/cartoons/cartoonist/EricAllie
#724132

On June 19th, 2009 at 3:11 am, Papa Louie said:

Ragspierre said:

And if you believe that one, I just saved 112,000,000 million jobs today.

That would be easy if you were Obama. As Czar of czars, you could hire or fire anyone you want (including the bean counter who keeps track of all the jobs created or saved). Everyone you don’t fire counts toward jobs “saved”, and everyone you fire and replace with a true worshipper counts as jobs “created”. See how easy it is?
#724369

On June 19th, 2009 at 11:11 am, rpg1616 said:

Stossel is right. Not only do we need to get the government out of health care, we need to get employers out of health care. GM is basically a health care provider that makes cars on the side. I don’t rely on my employer for my car insurance, why should I have to rely on them for health insurance? Make health insurance and uninsured health care costs tax deductible (which McCain proposed and Obama called a tax increase without any questioning by the media) and let individuals shop for the plans they want in a truly competitive market (which includes breaking down anticompetitive state regulations).