Fox News on the Affordable Care Act, Two Ways

On Friday, Salon’s Eric Stern fact-checked a segment on Fox News where Sean Hannity announced, “Average Americans are feeling the pain of Obamacare and the healthcare overhaul train wreck.” One example: A couple lamented to Hannity that because of the Affordable Care Act, they could not grow their construction business and had to limit the hours of their workers. When Stern called the couple up, he learned that the construction business in question has only four employees (the ACA has no effect on businesses with 49 employees or less). Stern asked him why he cut back his operation:

“Well,” he said, “I haven’t been forced to do so, it’s just that I’ve chosen to do so. I have to deal with increased costs.” What costs? And how, I asked him, is any of it due to Obamacare? There was a long pause, after which he said he’d call me back. He never did.

It’s pretty clear that Fox News isn’t embracing the Affordable Care Act, and the segment itself is not so surprising. What is surprising is Fox News contributor Sally Kohn’s piece on her attempts to access her state’s health insurance exchange website, which she wasn’t able to do for a few days, and what she found when she was finally able to get on. Kohn writes:

There were literally 50 plans that were better than my current insurance — both with lower premiums, lower out-of-pocket costs and better coverage. And there were ten plans with a higher premium than my current insurance, but with lower deductibles.

So — and here’s an important point — the reason that more people haven’t signed up for coverage yet is probably that, just like me, they needed to take some time (and first, find some time!) to weigh all the options.

Kohn was able to find a better and cheaper plan on the health insurance exchange sites. Kohn’s lesson: Try the exchange, and look at the options that are available to you — it might surprise you.

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