Journalistic professionalism has plummeted. Reporters editorialize under the guise of “unbiased” reporting and have become cheerleaders for the government, doing a disservice to the democracy they purport to safeguard.

This is often done by repeating politicians’ clichéd sound bites so often that they become accepted as fact.

An example appeared in the Issaquah Reporter story on the human services campus. (“City agrees we need a human services campus…” July 31, 2009.)

The reporter gratuitously states that the United States has “what is regarded as one of the worst [health care] systems among developed nations.” Regarded by whom? Politicians? The media? Or ordinary Americans?

Ninety percent of Americans have health insurance. Of those, 80 percent are happy with their coverage.

When you subtract people here unlawfully, or those who have sufficient income to afford insurance but choose not to, or those eligible for Medicaid, you are left with approximately 10-15 million who are exposed. Too many, to be sure, but not the basket case often portrayed in the press.

Cancer survival is higher here than in Canada and Europe. Hospitals are clean and the care is generally outstanding. Doctors are professional and caring, treating their patients as individuals. Our oldest citizens are afforded medical miracles to extend and improve quality of life.

We lead in medical innovation. Waits are measured in days, not months. We lead in access to treatment for chronic illness.

The oft-cited statistic of shorter life expectancy is influenced largely by personal lifestyle choices (epidemic obesity, etc).

In contrast, according to Stanford’s Hoover Institute, 70 percent of citizens in countries with more government control of healthcare are highly dissatisfied, calling for “complete rebuilding.”

Surveys show Americans with greater satisfaction than their Canadian counterparts.

Our health care system can stand improvement (name any institution where that is not the case.)

No one should be driven into destitution by illness.

We pay more than we used to. But we also get more.

So journalists should not mischaracterize our whole system as “among the worst.”

It clearly is not, and such statements do not jive with most people’s daily experience.

It creates the misguided impression we need to overhaul the entire system.

Christian Cary

Sammamish