April 13, 2010 5:06PM # Media Coverage of the Health Care Overhaul By [Michael D. Tanner](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-d-tanner) --- SHARE Over the course of the health care debate, the media often reported and [editorialized](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/business/24leonhardt.html) — and sometimes it was [impossible](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100322/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_overhaul_moment_in_history) to tell the difference — quite favorably on the Democratic proposals running through Congress. While [some upheld their journalistic responsibility](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/28/AR2010032802353.html) to scrutinize and offer objective analysis of the legislation, many did not. It was not surprising to read stories almost daily about how Obamacare would lift millions of poor, elderly, sick, and generally down-trodden Americans out of financial and medical crisis, and even go so far as to singlehandedly save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans over the course of the next decade. (It would even provide one free turkey for Thanksgiving to every family living 400 percent below the poverty level.) This morning, however, the headlines read something like this: - [“Rasmussen: Public Favors Repeal 58%-38%](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/march_2010/health_care_law)” (Rasmussen Polls) - [“JCT Says Healthcare Reform Will Raise Middle Class Taxes](http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/91669-healthcare-law-socks-middle-class-with-a-39-billion-tax-increase)” (*The Hill*) - “[Lawmakers, Staff May Lose Coverage](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/us/politics/13health.html?hp)” (*New York Times*): Adds the *Times*, “The confusion raises the inevitable question: If they did not know exactly what they were doing to themselves, did lawmakers who wrote and passed the bill fully grasp the details of how it would influence the lives of other Americans?” - [“Healthcare Law Could Boost Costs For Less Healthy Americans](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/health/13land.html?hp)” (*New York Times*) - [“Healthcare Law Unlikely To Curb Premium Increases](http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-health-premiums13-2010apr13,0,6096091.story)” (*Los Angeles Times*) My question is this: where were these reporters before the passage of the health care bill? ##### Related Tags [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).