Couric Frets ‘Damage’ and ‘Threat’ to ObamaCare, Relies on Ex-Clinton Accolade Cloaked as Health Expert
In the guise of a status report on ObamaCare, Katie Couric on Thursday night derided Republican efforts to repeal it just as it’s “starting to kick in.” She pleaded for viewers to give it a chance as she rationalized “the law is vulnerable because of the complex way it tries to fold 30 million uninsured people into the system,” fretting “ damage could be inflicted by choking off funding for programs that support the law, but a greater threat is the legal storm that's brewing.” Her only expert, Dr. Atul Gawande , touted ObamaCare as “a toolbox.” Couric disingenuously described Gawande as merely “a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and an influential voice on health care policy.” In fact, Gawande, who toiled on Gary Hart’s 1984 presidential bid and then for Al Gore’s quest in 1988 before working in Bill Clinton’s 1992 effort, oversaw a team of 75 toiling on the Clinton administration’s health care task force in 1993-94. Last year, he penned a piece for The New Yorker , “ Watching the Health-Care Vote ,” on how he brought his “fourteen-year-old son to see the vote on health reform” since it meant “hope has arrived.” Gawande revealed: “I realized I was — for just this one day — jealous of the politicians swirling in and out of the chambers,” because: [T]hey were going to take a final up or down vote on whether to embrace the principle in our country that if you are in medical need, you should be able to get quality health care without bankrupting yourself. And I was jealous of those who got to step onto the House floor, slide their identification cards into the electronic voting boxes, and, either way the tally went, make history. The bill was not remotely the kind of socialist, government take over of medicine its opponents accused it of being… The CBS Evening News story ended with Gawande’s assurance of ObamaCare’s potential if not ruined by opponents: “I have no question that we will discover ways that can control costs, improve quality of care for people. Whether we're going to take those lessons depends entirely on politics, and that's scary. That's the reality.” (The CBSNews.com online version also failed to identify Gawande’s political work and belief in ObamaCare.) Couric began by deriding the GOP/Tea Party agenda: “A move by House Republicans to repeal the law is going nowhere. Even so, they passed a resolution today directing House committees to get to work on new health reform legislation.” After one reporter expressed despair at how many supposedly can’t afford health care, another CBS reporter benignly explained how HHS is now formulating a huge regulatory regime: “The job of implementing health care reform belongs to HHS, the Department of Health and Human Services, and they have an entire new division now to do that.” Citing a poll, Couric relayed how “just 13 percent say they have seen any benefit, even though,” Couric stressed, “the most vulnerable are now protected.” But, she told viewers in pleading for them to give the law time, “it will take six more years to phase in all 91 of the law's major components.” Couric soon worried “the law is vulnerable because of the complex way it tries to fold 30 million uninsured people into the system while getting a handle on costs. By 2019,” she seriously asserted, “the law is expected to save the economy $143 billion.” Reporter Nancy Cordes described the GOP strategy: “One congressional expert that I spoke to put it this way: He said, ‘They're not going to be able to kill this bill. The best they can do right now is a series of flesh wounds.’” To which, Couric flailed: “That damage could be inflicted by choking off funding for programs that support the law, but a greater threat is the legal storm that's brewing.” “Threat,” not “opportunity.” From the Thursday, January 20 CBS Evening News , transcript provided by the MRC’s Brad Wilmouth: KATIE COURIC: And about the hot issue in Congress this week, 40 percent of Americans say the health care reform law should be repealed. That's down from 45 percent in November. A move by House Republicans to repeal the law is going nowhere. Even so, they passed a resolution today directing House committees to get to work on new health reform legislation. The vote was 253-175, with 14 Democrats joining the majority. In the meantime, the reform plan the President signed into law last year is starting to kick in. Where do things stand? Tonight we put that “In Focus.”
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on January 21, 2011. Filed under