After an audience member mentioned “the possibility of imprisonment” for those who don't buy health insurance, Coburn told her, “The intention is not to put anybody in jail. That makes for good TV news on FOX but that isn't the intention.”
(This is true, the reform law expressly prohibits the government from jailing anyone who fails to either obtain health insurance or pay a tax penalty.)
Then, last night Fox News's Bill O'Reilly raked Coburn over the coals for his comment about the network. O'Reilly said no one had ever appeared on Fox News and told viewers they would go to jail if they didn't buy health insurance. “We researched on Fox News if anybody had ever said you're going to jail if you don't buy health insurance. Nobody's ever said it.”
O'Reilly checked and still got it wrong. He not only didn't know about the false claims. He says he went looking for them and failed to find any.
Kate Pickert of Time goes on to point out numerous times Neil Cavuto, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Dick Morris, as well as a few guests, asserted insurance evaders would be jailed. They made these comments after passage of the Senate bill which specifically prohibits imprisoning people for failure to purchase insurance or pay the penalties.
Fox specializes in sensationalism more than news. Fox is to journalism what WWE is to sports.
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