CBS This Morning co-host Charlie Rose on Wednesday hyped the open enrollment period for ObamaCare, spinning good news for the law and skimping on the massive problems ahead. Rose cheered, “Eighty percent of people can find a 2018 plan for under $75 a month. In 2017, only 71 percent could.”
Regarding actions by Donald Trump against ObamaCare, the co-host chided, “Payments for people who help others sign up was cut by up to 90 percent. And subsidies that cover out-of-pocket costs will no longer be funded.” The recap was only 26 seconds and only CBS mentioned the open enrollment.
Yet, in that brief time, Rose failed to mention details like this one from The Washington Times:
Premiums for benchmark silver-level plans on the federal HealthCare.gov portal will rise 37 percent, and eight states will have only one insurer offering plans, the Health and Human Services Department reported Monday, as customers shun Obamacare and insurers jack up rates to make up for President Trump’s decision to halt “cost-sharing reduction” payments to the insurance companies.
Times writer Tom Howell Jr. added:
Mr. Trump’s HHS says the law is to blame for stumbles heading into next year because lackluster enrollment in the early rounds created a sick and costly risk pool that boosted rates and scared off insurers.
The total number of issuers offering plans is down to 132 from 237 last year — a 44 percent decrease.
A Times editorial warned, “A 40-year-old couple with two children in Chicago can expect to pay $1,900 a month for their exchange’s top-of-the-line HMO offering, and that’s just to obtain the coverage.”
Yet, Reuters chose to cover the story by blaming Trump with this headline: “Obamacare 2018 enrollment clouded by uncertainty under Trump.”
NPR echoed this theme, targeting, “Starting tomorrow, people can purchase health insurance for 2018 on the Affordable Care Act's marketplace. Republican efforts to scrap the law are causing a lot of confusion for people.”
A transcript of the CBS segment is below:
CBS This Morning
11/1/17
7:49:31 to 7:49:57CHARLIE ROSE: USA Today reports on open enrollment for ObamaCare beginning today. Eighty percent of people can find a 2018 plan for under $75 a month. In 2017 only 71 percent could. This year the sign up period is shorter, only 45 days. Payments for people who help others sign up was cut by up to 90 percent. And subsidies that cover out-of-pocket costs will no longer be funded.
