CBS Notices 'Another Problem' With ObamaCare – Higher Deductibles; ABC, NBC Omit

Norah O'Donnell's 20-second news brief on Monday's CBS This Morning is the sole Big Three network mention so far of the Wall Street Journal's Sunday report [1] about a "troubling element" of ObamaCare – exorbitant deductibles with the no-frills plans available on the health care exchanges.

O'Donnell zeroed in on the item by reporters Leslie Scism and Timothy W. Martin, who cited a new report that found that "the average individual deductible for...a bronze plan on the exchange...is $5,081 a year": [MP3 audio available here [2]; video below]

NORAH O'DONNELL: The Wall Street Journal says health insurance customers are finding another problem under ObamaCare. The new generation of policies have higher deductibles. Consumers have to pay more of their own money before insurance kicks in. The average deductible for the lowest level of insurance on HealthCare.gov is more than $5,000.

Scism and Martin detailed how the report from HealthPocket Inc., "a company that compares health-insurance plans for consumers", analyzed the health care plans in 34 out of the 36 states that haven't set up their own exchanges under the controversial health care law. The report also underlined that the $5081 average cost is "42% higher than the average deductible of $3,589 for an individually purchased plan in 2013 before much of the federal law took effect."

The Wall Street Journal correspondents also noted how "'cost-sharing' subsidies to help pay deductibles are available to people who earn up to 2.5 times the poverty level....[but] the cost-sharing subsidies for deductibles don't apply to the bronze policies."

Six days earlier, the December 3, 2013 edition [3] of CBS This Morning also underlined the continuing problems with the ObamaCare website, even after the White House claimed "it met its deadline to make HealthCare.gov work smoothly for the vast majority of shoppers". By contrast, NBC's Today that same morning ballyhooed the supposed positive news [4] about the online health insurance clearinghouse.