Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
Joni Mitchell, Big Yellow Taxi
What strikes me about the Town Hall protests against ACA Repeal is how they’ve exposed the bankruptcy of the media. For eight years the benefits of the ACA have been swamped by negative coverage —led by the right (death panels), abetted by the mainstream media (and to some extent, by the lack of a push back by the administration). Why did it fall to a Kossack and one of my heroes, Brainwrap (Charles Gaba) to tally up the actual number of people enrolling in Medicaid? Because none of the media, with all their resources, saw fit to do it.
Case in point: Refusing Medicaid Expansion versus “You can keep your health plan”
President Obama’s statement about keeping your insurance ignited a media furor in November 2013. How dare he have fooled the people! “Pants on Fire” roared fact checkers. You could almost see the spittle dripping off the Fox News crawl outside their building. And yes, it was technically inaccurate, but most people (especially under employer plans) could keep their insurance. And there of course was no guaranty of keeping your insurance before the ACA. But OK — an exaggeration — though not nearly in the league of “death panels” and “death spirals.” And certainly not in a league with “Saddam and bin Laden are in league.”
At the same time, nearly all the GOP-controlled States were refusing to expand Medicaid (because Justice Roberts said they could). The expansion was at no cost to these states for at least 10 years, resulted in savings for the states, and saved millions nationwide from illness, bankruptcy or death. But just yesterday, Gov. Brownback (Sociopath, KS) avoided an override of his veto of expansion by just one vote.
Which is the more important story? Killing and bankruptcy tens of thousands of your constituents or misspeaking to sell your health plan? Obviously, to the media it was the latter.
At the height of this furor, I found myself in an elevator with a prominent TV talking head. Because I’m nuts and prepare for these encounters, I asked him “Isn’t refusal to expand Medicaid as big or a bigger story than what the President said about keeping your plan? Aren’t the refusing states causing illness and death?”
He grudgingly admitted “yes, that is worthy of note,” but then snapped back to the “keep your plan” theme saying, “That’s no way to make policy.”
The Great Awakening: “Hey, this is actually a good thing.”
Without media reporting it the ACA helped people quietly. Family and friends knew their loved ones or acquaintances were finally getting care. But it seems like it was almost a secret that this was happening. (Not of course to us here, educated by Brainwrap and other great diarists). Polls showed at best an even approval rating for the ACA. Part of this is also because of the nature of insurance — you only appreciate it when you need it. Also — people were generally unaware of the reforms covering employer as well as private insurance, like elimination of caps.
Yet only now, when the “silent majority” of beneficiaries and their friends and family are coming forward in town halls, is the media paying attention to the benefits of the law. The wrenching stories embedded in questions to legislators are finally changing the skewed narrative the media aided and abetted for seven years.
You don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
Oh — and register everyone to vote: #viralvoting #votingtsunami