Fox’s Shepard Smith says public option isn’t government takeover

By David Edwards and Stephen Webster
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 -- 6:49 pm
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shepardsmith2 Foxs Shepard Smith says public option isnt government takeoverFox News host Shepard Smith has broken with the ideology of his conservative network yet again.

Speaking with Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) on Tuesday, Smith took exception to the allegation that offering a public insurance policy through the federal government is somehow a "takeover" of health care.

"Over the last ten years health care costs in America have skyrocketed," he said. "Regular folks cannot afford it. So, they tax the system by not getting preventative medicine. They go to the emergency room in the last case and we all wind up paying for it."

He continued: "As the costs have gone up, the insurance industry's profits, on average, have gone up more than 350 percent. And it is the insurance companies which have paid, and who have contributed to Senators and Congressmen on both sides of the aisle to the point where now we cannot get what all concerned on Capitol Hill seem to believe and more 60 percent of Americans say they would support, which is a public option."

Smith went on to call Obama's health reforms a "huge win" for insurers, but wondered what would happen if a public option is not offered if the legislation requires everyone to carry health insurance.

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"Therefore millions more people will have to buy insurance from the very corporations that are overcharging us, and whose profits have gone up 350 percent in the last ten years," he said. "It seems like we the people are the ones getting the shaft here."

This video is from Fox News' Studio B, broadcast Oct. 6, 2009.



Download video via RawReplay.com

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Story comments are below...

  • I LOVE when Shephard Smith does this.
  • dolly lanna
    Thank you for telling the facts on Fox. Rare thing these days.
  • Bobby
    Answer the question----how are we going to keep the COST DOWN without a public option? People need an option to choose or they will pay through the roof,and the Government will offer a lower option than any Insurance copany out there.
  • cameramandavid
    Shep... Come to the light... we have cookies!
  • Wildcat
    Smith is the closest thing that the nutball network has to an actual -- I dunno, fact-teller? I stop way short of calling anyone there a journalist...

    Wildcat
  • overdoneputaforkinit
    Senator Barrasso tried several times to change the discussion to Max Baucus's bill so he could attack it and pretend he was answering the question about the public option, which it does not have. Also Medicare is more efficient than for profit insurance, contrary to what Barrasso said.
  • Savantster
    .
    Sounds like you're suggesting a non-profit single payer system.. Who will be left to buy all those big yachts and private jets? ;)

    .
  • iamtodd
    here's what i don't get....if these clowns all feel that washington can't successfully run something like what they've ALREADY been doing between medicare and medicaid, why don't A.) they leave the job that they were elected to do and admittedly CAN'T do and B.) drop their cozy GOVERNMENT-RUN health option they themselves receive?! answer me that you bureaucratic- talking-point-douchebags! and another thing, thank goodness for shep....the only one at "Faux News" with a brain in his skull...
  • Eyeball_Kid
    Your second suggestion is one that never seems to be made to people like Barrasso. If he thinks the public option is so awful, why isn't he quitting his own medical plan? Because what HE has is a public option!
  • starvapor
    At the FOX News Loon Farm, Shepard Smith has pretty much distanced himself from the rest of the company's wing-nut flock on several occasions.
    Too bad, if he keeps this up, Rupert Murdoch will probably have his head on the chopping block.
  • thepoliticalcat
    No problem. If he can do this on Fox, the other networks will hire him without thinking twice.
  • mamazboy
    Go Shep!
  • Hologram5
    Revolution is coming. The idiots like these people (health insureres) will be the first to go, I take that back, the criminalistic ones that take the contributions (Bribes) will be the first to go. When you really think about it, the money they take from the insurers are nothing but bribes to get the vote.
  • jgreatstone
    the senator says how terrible it is that they're going to cut medicare spending, and then that there's "the most waste" in medicare. hello? classic.
  • DougI
    He doesn't see any support for the public option in Wyoming. I never saw a Chinese person in Wyoming. I guess the Chinese don't exist.
  • chickdante
    Shep Smith better start looking for work elsewhere and hiring extra security around his home. I get hate mail from anonymous citizens just writing a short letter to the editor of my local newspaper questionning right wing talking points. I can only imagine the firestorm this guy gets every time he wanders off the reservation.

    It is hard to conceive a real journalist working at Fox Noise much less one that questions those who spout nonsense like "government takeover of healthcare" and other lies. If Shepard Smith keeps it up, even some right wingers will accuse the network of "liberal bias."
  • thepoliticalcat
    Shep Smith is not going to be fired since he's the only real journalist at Faux News. Unless they find some wormy shill with real journalistic chops to take his place, who is willing to lie and weasel and sell his soul. Which, despite the current market, ain't gonna be that easy. I'm glad he took this stand. Thanks, Shep!
  • letsleave
    what he really ought to be doing is pointing out the reasons why it wouldn't be a bad thing to have govt run healthcare. single payer is the only acceptable option.
  • danel
    Shipard Smith is the only sane person at Fox.
  • Dave
    Apparently the Republicans, to quote a famous movie line, "can't handle the truth."

    It's easy to ignore the truth when you don't believe you'll ever find yourself in a situation where the costs of health care would have a catostrophic impact on your life. For a very few, those costs will never be a problem. For the vast majority of the population, the risk is always there whether you currently have insurance or not. Cover at work, you're a job loss away from losing that coverage. I'll ignore the co-pays that could bankrupt you anyway...
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