Dobbs -- Dobbs! -- complains about misinformation in health care debate

Dobbs complains about the state of the debate over health care reform

Dobbs: "I don't think there's any doubt that people are lying in this debate." Dobbs stated on his CNN program that President Obama is "saying people are lying. Those are my words, not precisely his. But I don't think there's any doubt that people are lying in this debate." [Lou Dobbs Tonight, 8/19/09]

Dobbs: "[T]here has been no public debate, no public discussion whatsoever of the facts, the context." Dobbs stated, "I love the idea that this whole issue is being discussed as if it were so simple that it could be co-ops, it could be a government-run option, it could be absolutely free enterprise entities, for-profit entities when there has been no public debate, no public discussion whatsoever of the facts, the context, the environment, which are integral to whatever solution is provided. This has been one of the most remarkable moments in American history in the discussion of public policy, because there are so few facts, so little understanding of all that is involved -- the environment, if you will, of the issue and its ultimate prescriptions for resolution." [Lou Dobbs Tonight, 8/18/09]

But Dobbs himself has polluted the debate with misinformation

Dobbs equated "universal health care, the so-called public option" with "single-payer" system. On the August 19 edition of his CNN program, Dobbs said to AARP policy director David Certner, "Is universal health care, the so-called public option, or single-payer, which -- however you want to break it down -- why has the AARP not come up with its own solution? And we've heard the president say twice that you guys are on board with what he's doing." In fact, a single-payer system is a government-run health care system, while the public option is a government-financed health care plan that would exist alongside and compete with private health insurance. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that "total enrollment in the public plan would equal about 11 million or 12 million," under the House tri-committee bill.

Dobbs suggested that end-of-life counseling might lead to "euthanasia." Echoing falsehoods advanced by Betsy McCaughey, Dobbs stated on his radio show that "they want you to go out and start getting counseling for end of life. I love that one." He added, "Well, you know, we could save a lot of money. I mean, you know -- I mean, what they're basically talking about -- I mean, you start getting to that level, what's next? Euthanasia?" [The Lou Dobbs Show, 7/30/09] In fact, the relevant section of the bill amends the Social Security Act to ensure that advance care planning consultations will be covered if a patient requests it from a qualified care provider [America's Affordable Health Choices Act, Sec. 1233].

Dobbs falsely claimed House leadership is "saying you're un-American to oppose" reform plans. CNN contributor Errol Louis corrected Dobbs, stating that "the un-American part was ... to shout people down, to stop the conversation is un-American." Indeed, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) wrote that "[d]rowning out opposing views is simply un-American." [Lou Dobbs Tonight, 8/10/09]

Echoing Drudge, Limbaugh falsehood, Dobbs claimed Obama doesn't know what's in House bill. After Obama said he was "not familiar" with health care reform opponents' false talking point that the House bill would ban individual private health insurance, The Drudge Report, a Heritage Foundation blog, and Rush Limbaugh all falsely claimed on July 21 that Obama, in Limbaugh's words, "admit[ted] he doesn't know" what's in the House health care bill. Dobbs echoed that argument on his radio show that same day, later adding that "this legislation that President Obama says the time for talk is over, it has to be passed by the first of August, and he doesn't even know what's in it." [The Lou Dobbs Show, 7/21/09]

Ignoring similar policies by U.S. insurance companies, Dobbs fearmongered about rationing in the U.K. On his radio show, Dobbs made an apparent reference to the case of a 22-year-old British man who died because he was too ill to survive the process of meeting "organ donation criteria which require an alcohol-free period of at least six months." [BBC, 7/20/09] Dobbs stated, "I mean, we're talking about turning over life-and-death decisions to a government. And that should, it seems to me, trouble the most -- I don't know -- the most ardent supporter of health care at any cost in this country." [The Lou Dobbs Show, 7/21/09] However, according to a National Institutes of Health publication, similar criteria are currently in use in the U.S. for transplant candidates with alcoholic liver disease [ALD]: "Some transplant programs and insurance companies insist on an absolute 6-month period of abstinence before a patient with ALD can be listed for liver transplantation." [NIH, 9/29/04]

Transcripts

From the August 19 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight:

DOBBS: In tonight's face-off debate: Is universal health care the solution for this country's health care system? Legislative policy director for the AARP David Certner says yes. Great to have you with us, David. AARP representing some 40 million Americans over the age of 50. In Seattle, policy and public affairs director for the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Kathryn Serkes. Her association says universal health care simply just doesn't work. Good to have you both here.

Let's begin with David. First: Is universal health care, the so-called public option, or single-payer, which -- however you want to break it down -- why has the AARP not come up with its own solution? And we've heard the president say twice that you guys are on board with what he's doing.

[...]

DOBBS: Well, now both of you charge that there are myths and distortions. We're hearing the president say that there are misrepresentations. I can't remember the exact expression he used again today -- you know, basically saying people are lying. There's no harm in saying exactly what we mean. He's saying people are lying. Those are my words, not precisely his. But I don't think there's any doubt that people are lying in this debate.

How do we sort it all out? Because we've heard the president, as he -- I just mentioned one misrepresentation he made twice, saying that you guys were on board with him; you denied that outright. We've got people saying universal health care will be the end of western civilization; we know better than that because we've been reporting here for about three weeks that there are public health care systems in the world that work brilliantly. So what is the big lie that is distorting the debate from your perspective and from yours, Kathryn?

From the August 18 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight:

BASH: And when it comes to policy and the politics of health care, it's hard to imagine there would be patients to wait even a couple of years, much less 60 for co-ops to get up and running nationally and be successful. Now in terms of cost to the taxpayer, that is, right now, Senate negotiators are talking about providing about $6 billion of seed money for co-ops but many experts think it would take a whole lot more than that. Lou?

DOBBS: So what's the answer?

BASH: To --

DOBBS: No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

BASH: -- which question?

DOBBS: I love the idea that this whole issue is being discussed as if it were so simple that it could be co-ops, it could be a government-run option, it could be absolutely free enterprise entities, for-profit entities, when there has been no public debate, no public discussion whatsoever of the facts, the context, the environment, which are integral to whatever solution is provided.

This has been one of the most remarkable moments in American history in the discussion of public policy, because there are so few facts, so little understanding of all that is involved -- the environment, if you will, of the issue and its ultimate prescriptions for resolution.