If you visit (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/02/02/transcript-bill-oreilly-interviews-president-obama/) a Fox News website or search for a video of Bill O’Reilly and Obama having an approximately 10-minute chat on 2/2/14, about three minutes of which addressed Obamacare, you’ll wonder why some headlines attempted to characterize the chat as a “grilling,” or going head-to-head or some other such indicator that Bill O’Reilly asked or that the President answered any “tough” questions.
For those of us interested in the consumer perils presented by Obamacare, listening to Mr. O’Reilly asking about the technology problems of enrolling via the website and why Kathleen Sibelius wasn’t fired was a ridiculous waste of time. Mr. O’Reilly indulged himself in trying to get the President to fire Kathleen Sibelius and the President got another opportunity to plug Obamacare.
There was only slight reference to the fact that the healthcare law’s substantial threat to consumers is the fact that it likely has worsened the problem facing consumers that inspired popularity of the idea of healthcare reform in the first place, which is the economic and physical peril we face in our system if we become sick and need medical care and treatment and the inadequacy of insurance products that leave us choosing financial ruin OR less than optimal medical treatment for our illnesses.
The President did note that “…what we’re constantly figuring out is how do we continue to improve it, how do we make sure that the folks who don’t have health insurance can get health insurance, and those who are underinsured are able to get better insurance.”
