On yesterday’s Your World, Stuart Varney and Dr. Marc Siegel debated the Obama administration hiring a PR firm to promote the Affordable Care Act. Of course, the Republicans were for such advertising by the Bush administration before they were against it from the Obama administration. Therefore, so is Fox.
Varney asked "What's wrong with some good information about how to eat the right things and stay healthy?"
Siegel used the opportunity to take a swipe at entitlement programs, too, as he said, "The message itself is ludicrous at a time when we're faced with an obesity epidemic, where we're going to see 45% of Americans obese by 2030 under the current situation where we extend entitlements, we lie there watching television, I mean prevention? This PR firm’s going to talk about prevention? Prevention's easy."
"What's wrong with talking about prevention?” Varney asked. “Why don't we prevent it by giving good information to the public?"
Siegel used this opportunity to go after ObamaCare in general. "They're going to be talking about we're giving you free colonoscopies, free mammograms if we decide you're supposed to get a mammogram, they’re going to decide which preventive tests are uesful, and which are not… It's not about what real prevention is, and the government has never been good at real prevention. Real prevention is exercise, it’s eating right, it’s sleeping right, it’s getting off the couch."
Varney sneered, "Do I need another government agency telling me no fat no sugar no salt and exercise every day?"
Dr. Siegel said, "That's a great point, Stuart. There's no evidence telling that anyone's telling you to do that at all… I've been yelling at viewers for years to get off their duff and get on the treadmill. Why should a government agency do that?"
A graphic then showed all the programs either feeding people or promoting healthy lives, and Dr. Siegel called them " invasion of the government into our private lives... I don't think it will work… There's probably an obese person in the PR agency telling people to exercise." For extra GOP points, Siegel threw in George W. Bush as a good role model for healthy habits.
Comment: And to think this person is part of what Fox calls its Medical A-Team?