Sunday, July 05, 2015

Hiding the bad news, New York Times-style

"Hey chief, we have to report that Obamacare premiums are going to soar."
"Let's dump it on the Saturday edition."
"Plus, it's a holiday weekend!"
"Score."

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

If the Times had instead sat on this story until a date deemed less diabolical, it would still be accused of "burying" it.

Eric said...

Huh? C'mon, the Times does this all the time.

Run it in the Sunday edition. Seems like kind of a big deal when Obama's major domestic legislation is imploding.

Anonymous said...

What, the Sunday edition of a holiday weekend?!?

This is the same kind of story we've seen every year since the ACA passed, and which could also have been written in the years before that. Every year, the insurance companies bid high. Every year, their requested rate increases are knocked down by regulators. See you next year.

Eric said...

Yeah, the Sunday edition which is the most subscribed and read issue of the week.

I know reading is an issue for you people, but take a look about how the insurance pool is "older and sicker" than expected. This is the start of the death spiral.

I'm sure the White House will be sending out communications this week about how they're controlling costs to merely 20%. After all, that's what Obama "expected" in his magical world of wishing and/or goalpost shifting.

$2500 savings are inevitable said...

Every year, their requested rate increases are knocked down by regulators.

You mean, like in Oregon, where "Moda Health Plan, which has the largest enrollment in the state, received a 25 percent increase, and the second-largest plan, LifeWise, received a 33 percent increase"? Even if those are the "knocked down" rates, how is that anything but a disaster?

Anonymous said...

It was a top of the fold, front page story. No one seems to have had the smallest trouble "unearthing" it.

Also, it’s myopic to accuse the Times of trying to hide an article that only they were compiling, and which no competing news outlet was publishing at all.

A more sensible case can be made that by running the now-annual story about preliminary rate requests on top of page 1 of the print paper, and by making it one of its three top stories to its subscribers' in-boxes, the Times was overplaying its importance as news. Even on a sleepy Saturday.


You mean, like in Oregon... Even if those are the "knocked down" rates, how is that anything but a disaster?

No I mean, like in America. Occasional counterexamples, like the too-often debunked individual payee cases that were previously pushed by the law's opponents, don't undo the fact that the nationwide rate of price increase in health coverage since the passage of the ACA has gone down from where the annual rate increases were before the ACA's passage. This year, next year, every year, some state's going to have the biggest increase and some state's going to have the smallest.

As to Obamacare forecasting, the next doomsday prediction that comes true will be the first. That includes the litany of disasters, and each of the law's imminent dismantlings. But that terrible record of forecasting is good for you, because it means you're due!

Keeping your doctor is inevitable said...

the nationwide rate of price increase in health coverage since the passage of the ACA has gone down from where the annual rate increases were before the ACA's passage.

Nice try, but the moderation in rate increases corresponded with the (continuing) financial crisis, not with the enacting of Obamacare years later. As to Obamacare's ultimate effect on rates, we may have to wait until it's actually implemented fully. That keeps getting postponed and postponed - remember?

As to Obamacare forecasting, the next doomsday prediction that comes true will be the first.

As to Obamacare features, the next original promise of Obama's that proves true will be the first.

So adorable said...

Keep fighting, Black Knight, you've just got a flesh wound.