At least one journalist isn't impressed by the health care initiatives of the White House and congressional Democrats, and is warning of consequences should they succeed.
CNBC's Maria Bartiromo was on MSNBC's July 27 "Morning Joe" to preview her upcoming special "Meeting of the Minds: The Future of Health Care," set to debut on July 27. According to the Bartiromo, who also anchors "Closing Bell" and "Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo," much of the increased costs of health care could be prevented with changes in lifestyle and behavior.
"You know, I mean the issue is - 70 percent of the cost of health care is preventable disease. It's lifestyle, behavior," Bartiromo said.
She pointed to two main problems with Democrat health care proposals, the first of which is cost and the second is the amount of power it gives the government over an individuals life.
"Well number one, it's too expensive," Bartiromo said. "A trillion dollars over 10 years is just too expensive. We don't have the money for that and secondly, think about the U.K. So the U.K. government right now - they're deciding what procedures, what drugs to pay for because they have a public system in place. The Obama administration is putting forth a public system."
Bartiromo likened the power of the U.K.'s government-run health care program to that of a deity since those in charge and dictate what sort of medications cancer victims can or can not have.
"In the U.K., if you have cancer - you will not be able to take Erbitux or Avastin, two of the most popular, most effective drugs," Bartiromo explained. "Is that where we are going? Are we going to a system where the government is going to play God? Or the insurance companies play God?"
Bartiromo's look at health care is advertised to be an "outside-the-box" look at the issue into different territory than other media reports. But, a study by the Business & Media Institute found the media tend not to be overly critical of the President health care policy. The study examined 224 stories about health care on the three broadcast networks' morning and evening shows that aired between Jan. 20, the date of Obama's inauguration, and June 24, and found they are reluctant to include reporting about cost and tended to exaggerate the number of uninsured, which bolsters Obama's case.
