"Critical condition" in medical terminology means a patient has a high risk of death that could occur within the next 24 hours. So when you see "Critical Condition: Rx For America," sounds like something is in really bad shape, right?
No, it was just a promotional three-night series on ABC "World News with Charles Gibson" that ran from December 10-12 about health care. By the third night, Charles Gibson was even calling one example of socialized medicine a "system that works."
Using a one-sided panel as well as ABC's own proponent of universal care, "World News," pushed a big government agenda.
"Much of the political debate next year will be about health care," Gibson said on the December 10 "World News." "Three-quarters of Americans say they're dissatisfied with the system and that providing health care for all Americans is more important than holding down taxes."
"World News" hosted a biased panel that included three socialized medicine cheerleaders and no one from any other viewpoint. Gibson described the three as people "who know the issues as well as anyone in America."
The second night of the series took a partisan tone favoring Democrats.
"The Democrat plans are going cover 40 to 45 million people," Davis said on the December 11 "World News." "The Republican plans are going cover 10 to 15 million people."
Despite such high costs, $60 to 110 billion a year according to ABC's medical editor, Dr. Tim Johnson, ABC still touted universal care on December 12 - this time citing the Veterans Administration (VA) as an example of efficiency. "It's a system that works," chimed Charles Gibson.
Using electronic medical records as a reason, ABC once again promoted socialized medicine with a dash of patriotism throw in.
As soldiers in uniform paraded across the screen Johnson said, "Socialized medicine may sound un-American, but in fact, it's exactly what we provide to our American heroes - the more than 5 million armed service veterans. They get health care that's both paid for by the government and delivered by the government. It's the VA health care system."
