And while the N&O's reporters doggedly pursue the truth ...

Posted by Rick Henderson at 11:04 AM

... its editorial board continues to (I'll be charitable) obfuscate. At least about health care.

Today's installment on President Obama's Wednesday address to Congress includes this whopper:

Then there have been the Republicans in Congress, many of them encouraged by the insurance and drug industries that have grown wealthy in a system far more expensive for citizens than in any other industrialized nation, standing pat against real reform and conjuring fears of a "government health-care plan." (my emphasis)

The old saw about repeating a lie so often that you believe it's the truth may apply here. Insurance companies do oppose liberal Democrats' insistence on a government-run "public option" that would offer coverage in competition with the private sector.

The pharmaceutical industry is another story altogether. Not only has the manufacturers' trade association cut a back-room deal with the White House reducing $80 billion from the industry's costs over the next decade if Obamacare passes. The industry has also committed $150 million to an advertising and marketing campaign to support the president's plan. (Whatever it ends up being.)

This marks the fourth reference I've seen in an N&O editorial since late July making this (to use the president's words) bogus claim about drug companies. (There may be others, but I prefer to not risk brain damage searching and reading.)

Editorial page editor Steve Ford has essentially endorsed a single-payer program, like Canada's, as a replacement for our "commercial" medical system. (Trust me, he's no fan of commerce, at least when it comes to health-care delivery.)

Fine, make your case for single-payer or universal coverage or whatever you want to call it. But if you value the intelligence of your readers, can't you at least tell them the truth?

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