Friday, August 21, 2009

Another Hannity reading FAIL: misstates "choice" provision after claiming to have "read" bill

http://mediamatters.org/items/200908210007

Sean Hannity again undermined his claim that he has "read this bill from start to finish," this time asserting that the bill contains "provisions about ... not being able to choose care on Page 16." In fact, the provision Hannity said is on "Page 16" allows individuals to choose to keep their existing coverage or enroll in coverage through a regulated health insurance exchange.

From the August 20 edition of Fox News' Hannity:

SPENCER TILLMAN (CBS Sports reporter): If you look at the front-loaded language of this particular bill, this is scary to me. I'm not an attorney, but I can flip this language left and right, and it can become something totally other than what it was intended to be, or at least posited to be. That scares the heck out of me, and I'm not the sharpest guy in the world.

HANNITY: No, no, you are.

TILLMAN: But I'm telling you --

HANNITY: No, no.

TILLMAN: -- it scares the heck out of me, man.

HANNITY: I've read this bill start to finish --

TILLMAN: It's scary, man.

HANNITY: -- and let me tell you, the provisions about, you know, not being able to choose care on Page 16, the death counseling at every --

TILLMAN: 4143 [sic].

HANNITY: -- five years at the end of your life. Some of this is frightening.

Provision allows individuals to choose existing coverage or coverage through a regulated insurance exchange

Page 16 of the health care reform bill states in its entirety:

SEC. 102. PROTECTING THE CHOICE TO KEEP CURRENT COVERAGE.

(a) GRANDFATHERED HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE DEFINED.-Subject to the succeeding provisions of this section, for purposes of establishing acceptable coverage under this division, the term ''grandfathered health insurance coverage'' means individual health insurance coverage that is offered and in force and effect before the first day of Y1 [2013] if the following conditions are met:

(1) LIMITATION ON NEW ENROLLMENT.-

(A) IN GENERAL.-Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day of Y1.

(B) DEPENDENT COVERAGE PERMITTED.-Subparagraph (A) shall not affect the subsequent enrollment of a dependent of an individual who is covered as of such first day.

(2) LIMITATION ON CHANGES IN TERMS OR CONDITIONS.-Subject to paragraph (3) and except as required by law, the issuer does not change any of its terms or conditions, including benefits and cost-sharing, from those in effect as of the day before the first day of Y1.

Sec. 102 goes on to state in subsection (c): "Individual health insurance coverage that is not grandfathered health insurance coverage under subsection (a) may only be offered on or after the first day of Y1 as an Exchange-participating health benefits plan."

Health Insurance Exchange allows individuals to choose between private and public insurers

According to a summary prepared by the House Ways and Means Committee:

The new Health Insurance Exchange creates a transparent and functional marketplace for individuals and small employers to comparison shop among private and public insurers. It works with state insurance departments to set and enforce insurance reforms and consumer protections, facilitates enrollment, and administers affordability credits to help low- and middle-income individuals and families purchase insurance. Over time, the Exchange will be opened to additional employers as another choice for covering their employees. States may opt to operate the Exchange in lieu of the national Exchange provided they follow the federal rules. [July 14, 2009]

Hannity previously misconstrued provisions he claimed to have read

Hannity's earlier claim to have "read the entire bill" undermined by falsehoods. On August 18, after saying he had "read the entire bill, all 1,018 pages," Hannity went on to falsely claim that if small businesses "don't go for the public option" under a House health care reform bill, "they're going to be punished," and that end-of-life provisions in the bill would establish "a bureaucrat that is designated to save money talking to an elderly person and offering them end-of-life advice." In fact, the penalty on small business would apply to businesses that don't provide health care, not specifically on those that "don't go for the public option," and the end-of-life provisions would reimburse physicians -- not "a bureaucrat" -- for voluntary counseling sessions. [Hannity; 8/18/09]

From the August 20 edition of Hannity:

HANNITY: Let me ask you this, because I have a headline here -- Canadian Medical Association -- CanadaCare is imploding. "Thousands of surgeries are cut in Vancouver because of underfunding." The Daily Mail in Great Britain: "Woman gives birth on pavement because she was refused an ambulance." Now, these -- this is only the tip of the iceberg. Your --

KAREN HANRETTY (Republican strategist): Well, listen, I don't think that the liberals want to pass government-run health care because they think it'll be efficient. They want to pass it because they believe in -- fundamentally believe that government should be involved in your personal health care decisions. This is about ideology.

SPENCER TILLMAN (CBS Sports reporter): You know --

HANRETTY: We're looking at it as a matter --

NINA EASTON (Fortune magazine): I disagree a bit.

HANRETTY: I think we're looking at it as a matter --

HANNITY: But have we conditioned, Spencer, the American --

HANRETTY: -- of efficiency and they're not.

HANNITY: Have we conditioned the American people to think that government is going to take away all of our fears and the government's the answer? They're going to pay for your car, your health care, your college, your kindergarten. They'll give you a baby bond. Whatever happened to the American spirit that you gotta be responsible for your life?

TILLMAN: Here's the problem with your proposition: When you make government officials regulators, they will trade in their halos for pitchforks, and they'll use this Dante's Inferno as their operating manual. That's what's problematic about this situation. We cannot assume that they're going to be efficient, they're going to do the right thing.

If you look at the front-loaded language of this particular bill, this is scary to me. I'm not an attorney, but I can flip this language left and right, and it can become something totally other than what it was intended to be, or at least posited to be. That scares the heck out of me, and I'm not the sharpest guy in the world.

HANNITY: No, no, you are.

TILLMAN: But I'm telling you --

HANNITY: No, no.

TILLMAN: -- it scares the heck out of me, man.

HANNITY: I've read this bill start to finish --

TILLMAN: It's scary, man.

HANNITY: -- and let me tell you, the provisions about, you know, not being able to choose care on Page 16, the death counseling at every --

TILLMAN: 4143.

HANNITY: -- five years at the end of your life. Some of this is frightening.



Sean Hannity: hannity@foxnews.com

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