The New Republic's Unquestioned New Collaboration

Jon Cohn has written long and well on behalf of single payer health care for The New Republic.  For over a decade he posted his analysis and observations through The Treatment, a column that grew in influence once Obama took office.  I rarely agreed wth Cohn's observations but always admired his persistence and willingness to wade at least a little bit into the clininal literature. 

He has "retired" The Treatment but now reappears in TNR -- and elsewhere -- as a, hired hand or observer at large courtesy of the Kaiser Foundation which is now spending tens of millions to support Kaiser Health News.  Or as the byline in Cohn's most recent TNR piece puts it:  "This column is a collaboration between TNR and Kaiser Health News. KHN is an editorially independent news service and is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization, which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente."

Read Cohn's piece here

A collaboration?  Does that mean KHN paid for Cohn to write the piece and TRN ran it?  Did it split the costs?  Did TNR pay for lunch?  Is this something KHN will continue to do with other news outlets and magazines?  Given the Kaiser Family Foundation's advocacy role and support of Obamacare, does this raise questions about media objectivity or should this be considered a novel way of funding reporting?

I have no problem with the Kaiser Foundation setting up KHN or engaging in a collaboration witn TNR  or any other publication to run pieces by Cohn.  I do have a problem when those who support Obamacare then turn around and attack those who have reservations about reform who use similar approaches to disseminate their views. 

Kudos to Cohn and TNR for finding creative ways to carry on the health care discussion.  Let's see if they and their followers are intellectually honest and consistent when folks like me follow suit.