CBS's Jan Crawford out-journalismed by Fox News. That's gotta hurt.
CBS's Jan Crawford out-journalismed by Fox News. That's gotta hurt.
CBS News, happy to jump on the Obamacare
not-really-a-scandal, found a woman in Florida who is losing her crappy insurance policy and is
unhappy about it. Jan Crawford reports:
That includes 56-year-old Dianne Barrette. Last month, she received a letter from Blue Cross Blue Shield informing her as of January 2014, she would lose her current plan. Barrette pays $54 a month. The new plan she's being offered would run $591 a month—10 times more than what she currently pays.
Enter Fox News, smelling blood in the Obamacare water. What Fox News didn't count on, though, was Greta Van Susteren actually
committing journalism.
“Your $54 a month policy is a pretty, you know, bare bones policy, “Greta said. “Why do you want to keep that one, except for the price? Maybe you can get something better with a subsidy?”
“Well, I know it doesn’t cover lengthy hospital stays,” Barrette replied, adding “It’s perfect for what I want. I get co-pays for doctor visits and prescriptions. So it suffices what I need. Also, the price isn’t too bad either.” [...]
“Well, does it pay for any hospitalization, the current policy you have?” Greta asked.
“Again, I’m a little confused about it,” Barrette answered. “I have been reading over and over the policies, and it appears that it does cover some outpatient, but when you go through the booklet they sent, it would say refer to this, refer to it but then refer back to… it was very confusing.” [...]
Greta agreed that “Trying to figure out insurance is extremely confusing in the best of circumstances,” but even without a shred of research, was able to tell that “your policy is like, you know, if you are walking across the street and someone runs a red light, you are in deep trouble under your existing policy.”
That's just a smattering of the conversation in which Van Susteren attempted to find out precisely what, if anything, Barrette's current plan offered, whether she had shopped for new insurance in the exchange to find something more competitive than what her current insurer was offering, and whether she knew how much of a subsidy she would be able to get to offset her higher premium costs. Sadly, and Van Susteren was very sympathetic to Barrette, the guest really couldn't answer any of these questions.
Barrette's subsequent booked appearance, scheduled for Fox's morning news, was promptly cancelled.
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