FOX NEWS & “THE TRUTH”: THE TWO WILL NEVER MEET!

Fox's anchor that sometimes has a problem in telling the truth.......

 

Bare-face lies are just part of Fox’s approach to American politics.

 

I have written many times that the GOP’s best friend is Fox News.  As the 2016 election gets closer, this is when Fox pulls out all the stops for supporting the GOP.  This is also when they will not only shade the truth in their so called news stories, when dealing with Republican candidates, they will offer us down-right lies.

It is especially bad when they use their key news anchors to spout all those bare-faced lies.

Here’s a recent example when a Fox anchor, Megyn Kelly, asked an intentionally dishonest question of Ohio Governor, John Kasich.  

Per Ms. Kelly: “Governor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other [Republican] governors, and it [Medicaid] is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months.

You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn’t going to ask them how small they’ve kept government, but what they have done for the poor.

Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won’t use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program?”

To the uninformed, Megyn’s question sounds pretty reasonable, doesn’t it?

But here’s the rub:

This dishonest Megyn Kelly "question"  is so outrageous, it requires very close attention and explanation:

First, Ohio’s Medicaid is not over budget. The sole reason for all the stated "extra cost" is because Ohio's Medicaid expansion proved so appealing that more Ohioans signed up than had been predicted by the state.  In other words, when Gov. Kasich hoped to reduce Ohio's uninsured rate by 5% in its first year, it wound up reducing it by over 8%.  No, it wasn't just a striking success, the large increases were a total failure of the state to meet their own budget numbers.  

So, what about that $1.4 billion in extra costs?  Well, all of it, yes 100%, is covered by "Obamacare" without any additional costs to Ohioans.  

But what about Ms. Kelly mention of those "taxpayers"?  Was that about Ohio taxpayers?  

No, she is referring to federal taxpayers, a fact she doesn’t happen to mention.  The ACA federal taxes are already being collected, and they don't go up or down whether Ohio expands Medicaid, rejects Medicaid or enrolls more than they expected in Medicaid. 

 

Oh, and if Ohio Republicans would succeed in taking away their citizens' Obamacare, federal taxpayers would not save one penny.

Yes, it’s true that after a couple of years Ohio taxpayers will have to pay ~5% of this higher number, but that issue was never the Ohio Republican's objection.  

The Republicans objected to paying 5% from dollar-one, and they falsely pretended that the problem was going to be "billions" of unfunded costs.  Please note that much of the unexpected ACA Medicaid expansion were not new Medicaid applicants.  They instead consisted of the traditional Medicaid members that learned that they were eligible for the new, expanded ACA Medicaid.  That new Medicaid expansion is paid 90%-100% by the federal government, while the older, traditional Medicaid was paid at only around 50%. Obviously, those current Medicaid patients wanted to change to the new program.

Therefore, with respect to the so called "extra costs," Ohio is getting double the Medicare reimbursement by accepting Obamacare, while eliminating the inadequate amounts that the state used to spend on the uninsured.

This may be getting into the “weeds” of the Medicare/Medicaid issues, but it is clear that Megyn Kelly certainly knew what she was asking of Governor Kasich.  

Obviously, the politics of the Republican bosses still remain historically immoral.  But if Ms. Kelly were a true journalist, she would be reporting the real crime, not aiding in covering it up as she and Fox News have done.

With typical chutzpah, Ms. Kelly has turned the question on its head as she  asked, "Why Republican voters shouldn't believe that you [Kasich] won’t use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program?"  

Now that is a classic example of Fox and their idea of “old-time religion”.

Copyright G.Ater  2015