The Obama administration finally admitted on Monday what so many critics warned would happen, that premiums were going to skyrocket. And skyrocket did as ABC Anchor David Muir reported on World News Tonight, “A new government report revealing premiums will go up an average of 25 percent next year.” ABC’s report is shocking since they spent most of 2016 keeping the program’s collapse a secret. In contrast, their competitors CBS and NBC remained tight lipped about the bad news on their evening programs.
“Also 1 in 5 consumers will have only one insurer to choose from, because several major carriers withdrew from the program,” Muir continued in his 30 seconds long news brief. One would expect such a shocking statistic would have been seencoming a mile way. Well it was, but ABC chose to ignore it like back in August when they and NBC failed to report insurance giant Aetna’s withdrawal from two thirds of the healthcare exchanges set up by the program.
The networks also blacked out how the federal government again missed enrollment projections and how insurers were literally losing billions of dollars because of the program. They were also silent on the push by Congressional Democrats to add the dreaded public option to the failing program.
While ABC was barely catching up, Fox News’ Bret Baier had a “we told you so” moment on Special Report. “Right now, the Obama administration is confirming what we’ve been telling you for weeks. ObamaCare premiums will go up sharply next year,” He reported, “And many consumers will be down to just one insurer.” “Republicans will pounce on the numbers as confirmation that insurance markets created by the 2010 health overhaul are on the verge of collapsing in what they call a “death spiral,”” he stated towards the end of his own news brief.