-By Warner Todd Huston
The Associated Press has done it again, pushing on readers a “study” by purported “nonpartisan” organizations that aren’t nonpartisan at all. This one claiming that Obamacare is a “good deal for states.”
The AP notes that this “report” by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation and the Urban Institute says that Obamacare is good for the states because it picks up the largest amount of healthcare costs through its Medicaid expansion.
Expanding Medicaid to cover about 20 million more low-income people will cost over $1 trillion nationally from 2013 to 2022, said the joint report from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Urban Institute. But the analysis found that states will pay just $76 billion of that, a combined share of roughly 7 percent. The feds will pay the other $952 billion.
But what of these two groups? Are they really “nonpartisan”?
AP calls them both “nonpartisan” organizations but the truth is both are leftist organizations and both have been pushing Obamacare and Obamacare-like policies for decades.
The Urban Institute has for years called itself “nonpartisan” but it was created by President Lyndon Johnson to track the success of his socialist Great Society policies. And since 1980 Urban has been advocating that the U.S. head toward a socialized national healthcare policy. In other words, there isn’t anything “nonpartisan” about the Urban Institute. It is a leftist think thank and has been since the beginning.
The Kaiser Family Foundation is no different. Kaiser has been advocating socialist medicine for sometime, as well.
So, it isn’t surprising that these two left-leaning, Obamacare pushing think tanks have put out a “study” that proclaims that Obamacare is a great thing for one and all.
Typically, the AP doesn’t bother to mention any of this simply reporting the results of the “study” as if it were some unbiased exploration of how wonderful Obamacare will be for the states.
It’s great because “the feds” will pick up all the costs. See? It’s a perfect solution.
Of course, the logical fallacy of this line of reasoning is that “the feds” isn’t some disembodied Santa Claus that we can all turn to for free healthcare. “The feds” is we the people. WE are paying “the other $952 billion.” And WE don’t have the money.
Another logical fallacy is that small business will be devastated, jobs will be lost, tax receipts will fall, medical costs will rise uncontrollably, and
This so-called “nonpartisan report” is built on a fantasy. Not that the AP informs its readers of any of this.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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