Rapid Response Network: Washington Post
Today, journalists Kelsey Snell and Jim Tankersley in their piece The Many Mysteries Surrounding Bernie Sanders Health Plan make two easily refutable claims:
1. It’s impossible to know the effects of a single payer system on a country like the U.S. because other countries adopted single payer decades ago, before a large private heath insurance system could take root.
Taiwan switched to single payer successfully in 1995. The National Health Insurance there covers all residents while keeping costs down. Taiwan, at 25 million residents, has a population comparable to Canada’s (35 mil).
2. Single payer would cause a two-tiered medical system in which inequities increase.
Sanders’s plan would do the exact opposite. The authors come to this conclusion by analyzing the effects of a single payer system which would provide “basic Medicare benefits” – rather than Sanders’s plan, which is much more comprehensive. They sneak this analysis into the piece – ostensibly about Sander’s single payer plan – by using the phrase, “under an American single payer plan”.
This is dishonest reporting. Please let them know you weren’t fooled:
Twitter Action:
Tweet to Kelsey Snell (@kelsey_snell)
Step 1: Click this link
Step 2: Click “Tweet to Kelsey Snell” (located under picture).
Step 3: Make sure her twitter handle (@kelsey_snell) is inside the box.
Step 4: Compose your tweet(s)!
Tweet to Jim Tankersley: @jimtankersley
Step 1: Click this link
Step 2: Click “Tweet to Jim Tankersley” (located under picture).
Step 3: Make sure his twitter handle (@jimtankersley) is inside the box.
Step 4: Compose your tweet(s)!
On the Article:
If you have time, please write your own comment! To post or write a comment, WP will ask you to login via Facebook (or Disqus, if you don’t have Facebook).
If you’re short on time, you can simply “like” Healthcare-NOW’s comment, which will help move it to the top. Click this link – when the article loads, scroll down to the bottom and open the comment section. You’ll see one comment: Stephanie Nakajima’s, our Director of Communications.
Thank you for your rapid response! Let’s keep these reporters accountable!
Yours in solidarity,
Ben and Stephanie