Julie Rovner, NPR's resident ObamaCare flack [1], failed to include any conservatives experts for her report on Medicare on Tuesday's All Things Considered. Rovner played two soundbites each from Drew Altman of the Kaiser Family Foundation and from MIT's Jonathan Gruber, whom the Washington Post named [2] the Democratic Party's "most influential health-care expert." She didn't mention either individual's liberal affiliations.
The closest that the correspondent got to mentioning their left-of-center politics is when she pointed out how Gruber "likes the way the Affordable Care Act takes on Medicare with a variety of approaches."
Rovner, who has a record of filing one-sided reports [3]
on the health care issue, first outlined both presidential candidate's
Medicare plans: "President Obama's plan fundamentally relies on slowing
Medicare spending gradually....Romney, however, would dramatically remake the program. He'd change it from one that's largely run by the federal government to one that's largely run by private insurers."
The journalist added that "the bottom line is both candidates are
walking a political tightrope here. On the one hand, says Drew Altman of
the Kaiser Family Foundation, it's Medicare, not the health law, that
could help turn the election, according to the foundation's most recent
poll." As in past reports, she did not mention that NPR has a joint partnership with the liberal organization [4], along with Harvard University's School of Public Health.
Rovner also cited another figure from the group's poll that supports
the liberal position: "Altman says the same poll last month, that found
seniors are making Medicare a voting issue, also found something else -
that they pretty much like Medicare the way it is now." She continued by
claiming that "a prudent politician would say, okay, let's just not touch Medicare.
After all, they don't call it one of the third rails of politics for
nothing. But that's no longer an option - not with 10,000 baby boomers
turning 65 every day for the next two decades, says Jonathan Gruber. He's a health economist at MIT."
Gruber boosted ObamaCare in his second soundbite: "It's a balanced approach.
I mean, it's basically saying, look, there's lots of different things
we need to do for Medicare to make it work better. We don't really know
which one is the ultimate long-run solution, but we need to move
forward." The NPR correspondent countered this with another clip from
Romney, but her overall sound bite count slanted towards the left, with
six from liberals, and three from the conservatives/Republicans, all
from the former Massachusetts governor.
The full transcript of Julie Rovner's report [5] from Tuesday's All Things Considered:
ROBERT SIEGEL: Now, to one of this election's most potent political
issues - Medicare. The health insurance program serves about 50 million
senior and disabled Americans. And, with 78 million baby boomers poised
to join, the future of Medicare has never been more in peril.
As part of our series 'Solve This', NPR's Julie Rovner looks at the
very different ways President Obama and Republican challenger, Mitt
Romney, say they plan to deal with the problem.
JULIE ROVNER: The first presidential debate earlier this month had an
entire segment devoted to the subject of health care. But it wasn't the
2010 health law that the candidates brought up first. It was Medicare.
Specifically, each candidate went after what they saw as the weaknesses
of the other candidate's plan. Here's President Obama on what Mitt
Romney is proposing.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The idea, which was originally presented by
Congressman [Paul] Ryan, your running mate, is that we would give a
voucher to seniors, and they could go out in the private marketplace and
buy their own health insurance. The problem is, that because the
voucher wouldn't necessarily keep up with health care inflation, it was
estimated that this would cost the average senior about $6,000 a year.
ROVNER: And here's Governor Romney on what President Obama's health law would do to Medicare.
MITT ROMNEY, (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: But on Medicare, for current
retirees, he's cutting $716 billion from the program. Now, he says by
not overpaying hospitals and providers - actually, just going to them
and saying we're going to reduce the rates you get paid across the board
- everybody's going to get a lower rate.
ROVNER: Now, independent fact checkers took issue with exactly how the
candidates described each other's plans, but the outlines are basically
accurate. President Obama's plan fundamentally relies on slowing
Medicare spending gradually - or, as he put it-
OBAMA: The way for us to deal with Medicare, in particular, is to lower health care costs.
ROVNER: Romney, however, would dramatically remake the program. He'd
change it from one that's largely run by the federal government to one
that's largely run by private insurers.
ROMNEY: I know my own view is, I'd rather have a private plan. I'd just
as soon not have the government telling me what kind of health care I
get. I'd rather be able to have an insurance company. If I don't like
them, I can get rid of them and find a different insurance company.
ROVNER: But the bottom line is both candidates are walking a political
tightrope here. On the one hand, says Drew Altman of the Kaiser Family
Foundation, it's Medicare, not the health law, that could help turn the
election, according to the foundation's most recent poll.
DREW ALTMAN, KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION: For seniors, Medicare is only slightly behind the economy as their top election issue.
ROVNER: And seniors are important - not only because they vote more
reliably than other voters, but also because they're a key voting bloc
in swing states, like Florida and Ohio. But Altman says the same poll
last month, that found seniors are making Medicare a voting issue, also
found something else - that they pretty much like Medicare the way it is
now.
ALTMAN: The verdict is very clear, especially with seniors. They're anxious about changing the traditional program.
ROVNER: Now, a prudent politician would say, okay, let's just not touch
Medicare. After all, they don't call it one of the third rails of
politics for nothing. But that's no longer an option - not with 10,000
baby boomers turning 65 every day for the next two decades, says
Jonathan Gruber. He's a health economist at MIT.
JONATHAN GRUBER, MIT: We as a society are not willing to put the
resources in to let Medicare go along as it's going along. To keep
Medicare solvent over the long run would require taking the current
Medicare payroll tax, which is about 2.9 percent, and taking it up to 12
percent or more of payroll. And we're just not willing to do that.
ROVNER: That means Medicare spending will have to be reined in somehow.
Gruber says he likes the way the Affordable Care Act takes on Medicare
with a variety of approaches. They include not only reducing some
payments to health care providers, but also experimenting with ways to
provide financial incentives for higher-quality care.
GRUBER: It's a balanced approach. I mean, it's basically saying, look,
there's lots of different things we need to do for Medicare to make it
work better. We don't really know which one is the ultimate long-run
solution, but we need to move forward.
ROVNER: Governor Romney, meanwhile, says he prefers the power of the marketplace.
ROMNEY: This is an idea that's been around a long time, which is
saying, hey, let's see if we can't get competition into the Medicare
world, so that people can get the choice of different plans at lower
cost, better quality. I believe in competition.
ROVNER: But clearly, when it comes to Medicare, both candidates also
share the belief in using it as a weapon to wield against their opponent
in an effort to scare seniors. That's something that's been true for
several elections now, and it's shown no sign of changing this year
either. Julie Rovner, NPR News, Washington.