Media has been playing a significant role in our daily lives by developing our personalities, enriching our knowledge and providing us with different sorts of information. It has a tremendous power in framing cultural guidelines and shaping political dissertation. If the information provided to the U.S. citizens is distorted, then they cannot make informed decisions on the matters of public policy. Thus, it becomes vital to the American democracy that the news media and its institutions remain unbiased, fair and accurate. Media bias happens when a media systematically and persistently emphasize one particular point of view that is usually below the standards of professional journalism. There can be various reasons for media bias, some of …show more content…
Recently, in June 2017, Grant Charley reported a news article named ‘One Almost-Certain Risk for Investors in the Health-Care Bill; Higher out of pocket spending will keep the spotlight on healthcare costs’ in The Wall Street Journal which was published by Dow Jones & Company. Later, in August 2017, Deborah Barfield Berry reported a news article named ‘Blacks look to close health gap; With ACA in limbo, leaders take matters into their own hands’ in USA Today which was published by the newspaper company itself. Both the newspaper articles were focused on the proposed healthcare bill and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Comparison and contrast between both articles According to Charley (2017), even after the enactment of new healthcare bill proposed by the Republicans, the out-of-pocket expenses for the patients is expected to rise. As per the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the total out-of-pocket spending is expected to increase by $221 billion more than the ACA over the next 10 years. Charley also mentions that these higher deductibles seem to be a logical outcome of the proposed healthcare bill in order to decrease the insurance premiums and minimize the number of Americans who can lose their health insurance. This exhibits Charley’s biased approach towards supporting the new healthcare
The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) from being introduced in 2010 has not been well received by the public. Two main consequences are economic issues, and many states rejecting the act. Economic issues are relevant because it is assumed that insurance premiums are increased, rising cost increases during a recession, mandated benefits and other costs will be passed on to consumers and billions of dollars will be taken from seniors Medicare benefits. In addition, a requirement of the act is that insurance companies spend at least 50-80 percent of premium dollars on medical care, which will lead to less consumer choice and higher prices. Many states are choosing to reject the act
The New York Times printed an article by Robert Pear, which reported that on December 24, 2009, the US senate passed the first bill, which would call for major reform regarding health care in the United States (Pear). The article titled “Senate Passes Health Care Overhaul on Party-Line Vote,” discusses the fact that while this step was a major milestone in the process of providing Americans with affordable heath care, it was not the end of the road. Over the coming months and years there would be a lot of give and take between democrats and republicans to revise the bill to the point where both sides could support it. One of the major points in this reform is that the US government was now going to offer affordable plans including subsidy options which would allow more Americans affordable options which were
In the United States, the medical and pharmaceutical industries have the greatest technology and professional medical services in the world. As a result, the cost of medical care is higher than the other countries. With that said, due to ever increasing costs, healthcare reform has been an issue for the past two decades. In order to lower the cost of healthcare, President Obama introduced revolutionary changes. ObamaCare is the unofficial name for The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a health reform law signed on March 23, 2010 by President Barack Obama (DeMichele). According to ObamaCare, “the Affordable Care Act does lots of important things including: offering Americans a number of new benefits, rights, and protections in regards to their healthcare; setting up a Health Insurance Marketplace where Americans can purchase federally regulated and subsidized health insurance during open enrollment; requiring most people to have coverage beginning in 2014 in order to get an exemption, or pay a penalty” (DeMichele). Since the ObamaCare started, many conservative politicians and Obama haters tried to challenge the ObamaCare because they assume the law takes advantage of tax payers. On the other hand, some politicians think President Obama starts a new era of health care. On June 25, 2015, the Supreme Court rejected another challenge in the case of “King vs. Burwell”. The justices voted 6-3 that the IRS can continue
Now a days people run to media for answers on current events and expect information to be accurate, but yet do the people know that almost all media news reports are bias. Often times people run to news channels that give out information they want to hear based off the media’s beliefs. The media has always been bias, but it wasn’t until certain events occurred that opened society’s eyes. There are six powerhouse news sources that all have their own type of bias which points out their own perspective on current events. When it comes to current events, different media platforms represent the story from different perspectives. Viewers want their views to be validated rather than challenged and don’t give ideas of what people should do. Although
Health care has been a controversial topic of discussion for all Americans since it was put in effect many years ago. Currently the biggest debate of Healthcare up to date is Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, is a Health care Reform that is a governmental attempt to make basic health care easily obtainable. However, there are no benefits without cost in situations like this, and upon that are different viewpoints on the subject thus creating political debates discussing if it is ethically correct. The overall goal that Obamacare hopes to accomplish is that through specific changes through insurance companies, industry standards, and patient guarantees a healthier America will be produced. Obamacare has its ups and downs for both the generally agreeing democratic viewpoints and the opposing republican side. Both viewpoints have their own beliefs about how Health care works and Obamacare is somewhat in between on this. Most arguments on Obamacare deal with Medicaid being constitutional and if Obamacare truly reduces the total cost of health care for individuals and in the government.
In February 2017, the news was dominated by stories and video of town hall meetings with constituents telling their representatives stories of how the ACA had benefitted them or their loved ones in one way or another (Colliver, 2017). There is no doubt that the law has helped thousands, maybe even millions of people across the country. There have also been stories of individuals who have health insurance, but are unable to use it because of high deductibles, which effectively render the insurance policies these people hold emergency only plans (Luhby, 2016). This is most certainly an unintended consequence of a law that was written with good intentions, but which needs to be modified to work with the real life situations the citizens of this country are faced with.
Seiber and Berman (2017) conclude that the Medicaid expansion helped the vast majority of enrollees, and there would be no pathway for them to obtain private-sector insurance if the ACA were repealed. Tarazi et al. (2016) believes that if there were no expansion of Medicaid, many cancer survivors would have limited access to routine care. Call et al. (2015) state that there is a clear evidence that the ACA has led to significant health insurance coverage gains. Pickett, Stephen, et al. (2016) analyze the uninsured rate in Texas (one of the highest in the nation) and conclude that Texas health care providers would face grave financial consequences if the 2017 session of the Texas legislature had not pass legislation to expand Medicaid under the ACA. Flint (2014) finds that States that refuse the Medicaid expansions are creating a problem for themselves as we are all beneficiaries of the Medicaid program.
control of both houses of Congress by the Democrats led to the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), often referred to as “Obamacare” was signed into law in March 2010 since then, the ACA, or Obamacare, has become a centerpiece of political campaigning” (Manchikanti et al., 2017). The Republicans now being in absolute in control of the presidency and both houses of Congress and are attempting to repeal and replace the ACA. Moreover, the future of the healthcare reform is still uncertain, especially due to the Republican party and by President Donald Trump. Affordable Care Act reform has given insurance coverage about 20 million people, reduced the cost of it, and improved quality of care to all patients. There are several laws of
In 2008, upon the commencement of The Affordable Care Act, the idea was to help millions of uninsured Americans gain health insurance, especially those who are at or just above the federal poverty level. Although the idea behind a universal health care system was great at the time, many citizens are struggling to find a doctor that will accept the subsidized health care insurance, such as Medicaid, and Passport. Furthermore, doctors choose to opt-out of accepting government based health insurance because the reimbursement rates are too low. “It is estimated that private plans pay $1.00 for a service, Medicare pays $0.80, and the ACA exchange plans are paying about $0.60.” (Harvey 1) That shows that the government based subsidized programs are significantly lower than the average market value. A
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a topic of dispute since its introduction and continues to be discussed by politicians in the U.S. and throughout the world even after its passage. The Act has many opponents and is the cause of much controversy nationwide, primarily because it introduces higher healthcare costs for the richest citizens. Nevertheless, the ACA is an important stage in the American healthcare development process as it not only allows more people to receive healthcare services, but will also reduce the deficit. However, not everyone agrees. The policy is controversial in terms of cost vs. benefits, but the benefits ultimately outweigh the costs.
After reading the reflection article, the author seems to favor the Affordable Care Act. President Obama challenges New Orleans to enroll in a health plan. He wants every local official, families, and friends to tell others about this “affordable” health care insurance. The President figures that spreading the word “by mouth” is the best resource for communities. There are places around the country that are now holding open enrollment for health insurance. According to the article, every uninsured person can afford health insurance at a low cost. In particular, the author states that in Louisiana nearly 8 in 10 people may get coverage with $50 or less a month. Also, pre-existing condition is no longer a major factor of coverage. This really
U.S. health care reform is currently one of the most heavily discussed topics in health discourse and politics. After former President Clinton’s failed attempt at health care reform in the mid-1990s, the Bush administration showed no serious efforts at achieving universal health coverage for the millions of uninsured Americans. With Barack Obama as the current U.S. President, health care reform is once again a top priority. President Obama has made a promise to “provide affordable, comprehensive, and portable health coverage for all Americans…” by the end of his first term (Barackobama.com). The heated debate between the two major political parties over health care reform revolves around how to pay for it and more importantly, whether it
To understand what state the modern media system is in, one must firmly understand what bias is. Media bias is present “when a political belief or commercial interest distorts the level of reporting” (“Media Bias” 1). If a political station provides positive or accurate information to only one side, then the station can be considered biased. Another form of bias is known as sensationalism. Sensationalism is the creation of panic or fear by over-reporting or over-inflating individual news stories, often blurring facts or reporting speculation as facts. A modern and familiar example of media
There are many different hidden truths in the media that people do not know about due to the fact that the media emphasizes on just one particular point of view. Throughout the years, people have been biased in the media and the reason as to why this happens is that people choose to lean on one side such as republican, democrat, libertarian, or conservative. To be biased means to only be on one side of an argument or situation and only favor more of what one person has to say. There are a variety of different news channels in which they all tend to lean more on one side, there is not a single news channel that is on the same side as another. There are many current events that have multiple contentious between other news channels. The viewers
Healthcare has emerged as a primary topic of debate recently given the rhetoric of president Trump on “repealing and replacing” our current system. His ideal replacement, which he failed to pass through the senate, has a favorability rating of 16% according to Mark Murray of NBC news (4). The GOP health care bill is projected by many healthcare experts, including Noam M. Levey of the LA times, who implies that this bill will lead to a spike in the number of uninsured Americans; this proposition also includes tax cuts, along with progressive cuts (over time) to medicaid spending from the house and senate