Time Magazine: McCain's "Radical" Health Care Plan

On Monday, Bernie Horn [1] warned us that Sen. John McCain's health care plan is a "radical scheme." Yesterday, Roger Hickey set up a test for the media: [2] "The reality is, McCain’s proposals would greatly increase the number of uninsured Americans, while also doing nothing about health care costs except increasing the number of people who can’t afford good quality health care for themselves and their families. Let’s see if the media gets both parts of the story right."

Well, the media have largely failed that test, but notably on the Time Magazine Swampland blog, Karen Tumulty slapped her journalistic brethren on the wrist [3] for it (emphasis added):

John McCain has now jumped into the argument with a plan that is, in fact, a radical one. (You can see some good descriptions in the stories that appeared on the front pages of today's New York Times and Washington Post) But the stories really understate the depth of the philosophical differences that he has staked out between the two parties, or the degree to which McCain's would be a departure from the system we have now.

And she paraphrases one expert who says in plans like McCain's that have been tried at the state level, "people end up paying a lot more money for policies that are a lot skimpier."

So, someone in the traditional media is looking at the details and offering objective analysis, albeit on the nontraditional blog. We'll see if other reporters follow her cue, or continue to muzzle the drastic nature of McCain's plan.