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Articles by Trudy Lieberman | Email the Author

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A sober look at healthcare after the ACA

The Los Angeles Times leads the way

Chad Terhune’s piece, “Supreme Court’s healthcare ruling: The outlook for California,” offered a clear-eyed look at the repercussions of the... More

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Spinning the Supreme Court’s healthcare decision

The press rides a PR tsunami on Obamacare

In the days before and after the Supreme Court’s decision, spin doctors were hard at work peddling their experts, positions,... More

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Climbing the Medicaid mountain

The press is starting to master the policy angles. Now for the people

The Affordable Care Act envisions a major expansion of health insurance in America, with some 30 million Americans gaining coverage.... More

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Romney’s ‘job killer’ narrative: time for an X-ray

Some reporters are asking: Does Obamacare really destroy jobs?

ONNtv.com, which bills itself as Ohio’s channel for news, is one of the latest media outlets to casually pass along... More

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Whaddya know—advertising works!

The Times continues the conversation about Obamacare and public opinion

If anyone ever doubted that advertising works, the latest example of its persuasive power, documented in The New York Times... More

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The failure to explain health reform

The public doesn’t understand it. Whose fault is that?

If the Supreme Court rules the health reform law or its central feature—the individual mandate requiring people to have health... More

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The brave new world of health insurance exchanges

It’s time to take a look at how they are working in Massachusetts and beyond

New York Times reporter Abby Goodnough’s piece last week about the health insurance exchange in Massachusetts is instructive—especially since other... More

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The Times finds the people angle on Social Security

A human story clarifies a policy question

It was good to see The New York Times publish the kind of story we have been urging—one that describes... More

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The word on the street: insecure

Listening to voters in Omaha’s Old Market

Last week I found myself in Omaha, at the city’s Old Market, hoping to visit with some of the locals... More

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What was CNN Money thinking?

A Q&A on retirement issues sows confusion

It’s hard to say what was the point of CNN Money’s latest contribution to the retirement debate. The site's Q&A... More

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A superb expose about an unsafe medical device

The OC Register lays bare a lax approval system that hurts patients

Tony Saavedra and Courtney Perkes, reporters for The Orange County Register, deserve a laurel for their superb piece about harmful... More

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The word on the street: frustrated

Listening to voters at a Pennsylvania Walmart

Last week a NBC News/Marist poll showed President Obama and Mitt Romney locked in a tight race in Florida and... More

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Talking back to Alan Simpson

The press picks up on his latest salvo. More, please?

Former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson, as followers of the entitlements debate know, is, shall we say, tart-tongued and gutsy. Or,... More

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A Grand Bargain on entitlements?

The press is sending signals about Simpson-Bowles. How about explaining it?

To the average person, Nancy Pelosi’s May 20 interview with George Stephanopoulos probably seemed like standard procedure for a Sunday... More

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The new medical-credit racket

The Record uncovers how patients are getting shafted—medically and financially

Reporter Lindy Washburn, at The Record in Bergen County, New Jersey, has revealed the latest shenanigans of unscrupulous members of... More

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Medicare and the $500 billion bogeyman

Will a half-truth still work for the GOP?

Republicans and their allies are dusting off an old $500 billion deception about Medicare, trying once more to scare seniors... More

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Health costs: Is Mass. the only model?

What about Vermont? (Not to mention Maryland)

We all know Obamacare is Romneycare and Romneycare is Obamacare and that the Bay State has set the standard for... More

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How an anti-tax HIT squad employs the press

“We’re pitching things and hope people run it. We’re not paying for ads”

The small-business community has revved up its campaign to repeal a tax on insurance companies intended to help finance subsidies... More

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Healthcare: Do Americans get too much—or too little?

A shout-out to Remapping Debate

We’ve become accustomed of late to stories telling us we get too much healthcare. We get too much of the... More

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Memo to Kevin Drum

Mediocre stories about Social Security are not okay

Dear Kevin: I have not written to you before, but I do know your work from the health reform debate.... More

The pace of modern life

Things have always been getting worse

Yes, women’s magazines can do serious journalism

In fact, we’ve been doing it for a while

Persuading David Simon

The people who run the American security apparatus are in the overwhelming majority diligent people with a deep concern for civil liberties. But their job is to find creative ways to collect information. And they work within an institution that, because of its secrecy, is fundamentally inimical to democracy and to a free society

Rachel Maddow’s tribute to Michael Hastings

“Michael was angry … he was angry about things that weren’t right in the world. He was angry with war and with loss, and that drove his reporting.”

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