CHUCK TODD NEEDS TO BE BETTER PREPARED FOR HIS INTERVIEWS

The "Meet the Press" host, Chuck Todd

John Boehner should have been challenged on his answers about Obamacare.

I have to say I was pretty happy when I had heard that Chuck Todd had taken over from David Gregory as the host of Meet the Press.  But since that occurred, I have more than once been on Chuck’s case for his not asking tougher follow-up questions when interviewing his guests.  As a case in point, last week he really started to zero in on House Speaker, John Boehner about the success of Obamacare. 

Todd started out by asking the following: “You made some dire predictions about health care. In 2014 you said fewer people would have health insurance. According to plenty of surveys, more people have health insurance today than they did before it went down from—the uninsured rate went down 17% to just under 12%. You said it would destroy jobs. The first year it was implemented, the country added 3 million jobs. Why?”

Obviously, Boehner had been expecting this question as he answered with the following: “Obamacare made it harder for employers to hire people. The economy expands and as a result, you are going to have more employees because businesses have to. But if you can ask any employer in America, and ask them whether Obamacare has made it harder for them to hire employees, they'll tell you yes. Because it's a fact.  When you look at—you know why there are more people insured? Because a lot more people are on Medicaid. And giving—you know, we expanded Medicaid in a big way. And giving people Medicaid insurance is almost like giving them nothing. Because there aren't—you can’t find a doctor that will see Medicaid patients.”

Unfortunately, as usual, Chuck did not challenge any of Boehner’s response, and Boehner left plenty of holes, some big enough to drive an 18-wheeler through.

First, I don’t know which employers that Boehner was talking to, but last year, 75% of the employers surveyed said that Obamacare wasn't making any difference in their hiring practices.  And instead of it being a job killer, not one major business organization filed any briefs in support of the King v. Burwell court challenge to the health care law.  As to Medicaid, there are plenty of Doctors that see Medicaid patients.

And as to Boehner’s claim about Medicaid and Obamacare, Medicaid doesn’t have anything to do with all those having new Obamacare health care coverage. 

At last count, there were 10.8 million private plans purchased through the exchanges, and 13.2 million Medicaid enrollments. But there are a lot more sources: Gallup, Commonwealth Fund, Rand Corporation, or the Urban Institute, that can confirm that there are lots of newly insured people. The Kaiser Family Foundation will tell you that six in 10 of the people buying private health insurance through the exchanges, they were previously uninsured. One could also note how the private insurers virtually jumped into the Obamacare marketplace when they saw how successful it was in the first year.

But since Boehner was ready for Chuck, Chuck obviously wasn’t ready for Boehner’s response, as he could only come back at Boehner with, “So you don’t see Obamacare as good for the country?"….DUH!

Chuck Todd is a very bright and capable reporter.  I am still hoping that interviews such as this will season him into the kind of host such as was the late Tim Russert, but I guess only time will tell.

Copyright  G.Ater  2015