Rich Noyes: Today's Push for ObamaCare Matches Media Spin for HillaryCare in 1990s
[Rich Noyes is Research Director at the Media Research Center.]
With President Obama pitching his version of health reform before a joint session of Congress, it recalls Bill Clinton’s 1993 speech to Congress on the same topic. The media spin back then sounds eerily familiar:"reform" would end the"shame" of America being the only industrialized nation without universal coverage; a bigger role for government would cost nothing or even save money in the long run; and government bureaucrats are preferable to insurance companies.
After a year of media cheerleading, however, Congress finally scrapped Clinton’s health care ideas. But the unpopularity of Clinton’s government-based solutions contributed to the election of the first Republican-led House of Representatives in more than four decades. That’s not to say history will play out the same way this time, but the media spin on behalf of ObamaCare certainly echoes the language of the 1990s. A review:
Giddy Over the Promise of Universal Coverage
“I think people now universally agree there should be an entitlement, a right to health care.”
— Newsweek reporter Eleanor Clift on The McLaughlin Group, September 18, 1993.
“Some 37 million Americans, mainly the working poor, live without the basic peace of mind offered by health insurance. Every other industrial country provides something close to universal coverage and the ever-growing number of uninsured Americans has long been seen by medical experts as an index of national shame.”
— New York Times reporter Erik Eckholm, November 14, 1993.
“Everyone is applauding, I think, in the health care community, the emphasis on universal access, because they know that unless they’re going to let some people just die in the streets, it makes sense to get medical care early, when it’s going to be more effective and less costly....the insurance companies are the focal point for the dynamics of denial that are part of our present for-profit system.”
— ABC medical editor Dr. Tim Johnson, January 26, 1994 World News Tonight...
Read entire article at Media Research Center (conservative media watchdog)
With President Obama pitching his version of health reform before a joint session of Congress, it recalls Bill Clinton’s 1993 speech to Congress on the same topic. The media spin back then sounds eerily familiar:"reform" would end the"shame" of America being the only industrialized nation without universal coverage; a bigger role for government would cost nothing or even save money in the long run; and government bureaucrats are preferable to insurance companies.
After a year of media cheerleading, however, Congress finally scrapped Clinton’s health care ideas. But the unpopularity of Clinton’s government-based solutions contributed to the election of the first Republican-led House of Representatives in more than four decades. That’s not to say history will play out the same way this time, but the media spin on behalf of ObamaCare certainly echoes the language of the 1990s. A review:
Giddy Over the Promise of Universal Coverage
“I think people now universally agree there should be an entitlement, a right to health care.”
— Newsweek reporter Eleanor Clift on The McLaughlin Group, September 18, 1993.
“Some 37 million Americans, mainly the working poor, live without the basic peace of mind offered by health insurance. Every other industrial country provides something close to universal coverage and the ever-growing number of uninsured Americans has long been seen by medical experts as an index of national shame.”
— New York Times reporter Erik Eckholm, November 14, 1993.
“Everyone is applauding, I think, in the health care community, the emphasis on universal access, because they know that unless they’re going to let some people just die in the streets, it makes sense to get medical care early, when it’s going to be more effective and less costly....the insurance companies are the focal point for the dynamics of denial that are part of our present for-profit system.”
— ABC medical editor Dr. Tim Johnson, January 26, 1994 World News Tonight...