August 12, 2009: Fox Analyst Reverses Previous Statements, Says ‘No One’ Believes Health Care Reform Will Kill Elderly

Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson, commenting on the Democrats’ health care reform legislation on the morning show Fox and Friends, claims “no one is saying” that the reform package would kill old people (see November 23, 2008, January 27, 2009, February 9, 2009, February 11, 2009, February 18, 2009, May 13, 2009, June 24, 2009, June 25, 2009, July 10, 2009, July 16, 2009, July 17, 2009, July 21, 2009, July 23, 2009, July 23, 2009, July 23, 2009, July 23-24, 2009, July 24, 2009, July 28, 2009, July 28, 2009, July 28, 2009, July 31, 2009 - August 12, 2009, August 6, 2009, August 7, 2009, August 10, 2009, August 10, 2009, Shortly Before August 10, 2009, August 11, 2009, and August 11, 2009). “The president’s reform plan is a redistribution of health care,” Johnson says. “And what he’s saying is, I want to reduce hospital costs by $220 billion from Medicare. I want to cut out Medicare Advantage that affects 10 million people. I want to reduce imaging studies. I want to reduce electric wheelchairs. I want to reduce advanced nursing care in facilities. So no one is saying that the president wants to kill old people.” Unfortunately, on the very same program, Johnson said two weeks before that the reform package would indeed kill old people: “Some people are saying, well, this is a health care reform, other people say—maybe me—that this is a subtle form of euthanasia. And when you start looking at the proposals, you say, ‘God, what’s happening?’” Johnson has made similar accusations in the recent past, and said that under the reform proposals, America would become a “kind of 2009 ‘Brave New World,’ ‘Soylent Green,’ ‘1984,’ Aldous Huxley kind of world” where doctors will advise you to end your life rather than continue your care. [Media Matters, 7/28/2009; Media Matters, 7/31/2009; Media Matters, 8/3/2009; Think Progress, 8/12/2009]