Media Bias

Check out this article title and first few paragraphs:

White House moves to limit health plan: report

The Bush administration has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult for states to extend health coverage to children in middle-income families, The New York Times reported on Monday.

The new standards for the Children's Health Insurance Program were outlined in a letter sent to state health officials on Friday evening, the newspaper said.

The letter from Dennis Smith, the director of the federal Center for Medicaid and State Operations, set a high standard for states that want to raise eligibility for the program above 250 percent of the poverty level, the Times said.

Pretty inflammatory right? You'd think the Bush administration was trying to beat children to death and deny them basic health insurance. Big, bad, Bush isn't thinking of the children! But wait, just in the next paragraph, the truth comes out:

Before making such a change, Smith said, states must demonstrate that they have "enrolled at least 95 percent of children in the state below 200 percent of the federal poverty level" who are eligible for either Medicaid or the child health program, the newspaper said.

Administration officials said the changes were aimed at returning the focus to low-income children and to make sure the program did not become a substitute for private health coverage, the Times said.

Deborah Bachrach, a deputy commissioner in the New York State Health Department told the paper: "No state in the nation has a participation rate of 95 percent."

What that means is, the poorest children get the health insurance first, before the next poorest kids do. That's basic and fair. Take care of those who need it most first. What's the problem with that??

But Deborah Bachrach thinks differently. Just because "no state" has a participation rate of 95%, she's downplaying it. Perhaps Mrs. Bachrach, we OUGHT to get it up to 95%??

The headline and first few articles are misleading at best, and outright slander at worst. The media has become very biased in one way or another in the past few years and it's time that they start acting like reporters instead of opinion columnists.

Travis
travis@rightwinglunatic.com