Journalists Assess Risks of Tick Bites, Wildfire Smoke, Rising Health Costs 3%

By khnalessandrab1%

7/25/2026, 9:00:00 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 4 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Unattributed Quote, and Framing Effect, with Attempt to Sell a Product or Service as the most egregious example at 24% saturation with 35 hits. Analysis detected 87 faulty-reasoning hits from 146 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 13.9% and a BS Rank of 3% (21,367 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 97.60% of the article peer group.

KFF Health News senior correspondent Julie Appleby discussed the affordability of Affordable Care Act health insurance plans on Connecticut Public’s The Wheelhouse on July 22. 
Click here to hear Appleby on The Wheelhouse. 
Céline Gounder, KFF Health News’ editor-at-large for public health, discussed tick bites on CBS’ CBS Mornings on July 20. 
She also discussed wildfire smoke and severe heat on CBS’ The Daily Report on July 16. 
Click here to watch Gounder on CBS Mornings. 
Click here to watch Gounder on The Daily Report. 
KFF Health News senior correspondent Renuka Rayasam discussed the effects of soaring health costs in Georgia on WUGA’s The Georgia Health Report on July 17. 
Click here to hear Rayasam on The Georgia Health Report. 
Read Rayasam’s “Patients Face a Thicket of Red Tape Trying To Maintain Consistent Health Coverage.” 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 2.3%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.6%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 3.1%Availability Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.7%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.9%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 7.5%khnalessandrab: 2.5%KFF Health News: 5.1%Framing Effect7.5%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 1.1%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.5%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 1.6%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 1.8%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 17.8%khnalessandrab: 5.9%KFF Health News: 7.2%Negativity Bias17.8%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 1.4%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.6%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.3%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.8%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.5%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.9%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.0%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.7%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.2%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.5%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 4.5%Appeal to Authority0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 1.1%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 1.0%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 3.1%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.3%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 4.7%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.4%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 2.6%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.5%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.3%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 3.0%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 1.1%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.2%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 10.3%khnalessandrab: 3.4%KFF Health News: 0.7%Unattributed Quote10.3%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.9%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 1.4%Biased Writer Voice0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.7%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.9%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%khnalessandrab: 0.0%KFF Health News: 0.4%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 24.0%khnalessandrab: 8.0%KFF Health News: 0.4%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…24.0%

146 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers68%attributed speech46writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageJulie Appleby • 25 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 100.0% coverageCéline Gounder • 19 words • 0.0% coverageCéline Gounder • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 9 words • 100.0% coverageRenuka Rayasam • 25 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 100.0% coverageRenuka Rayasam • 15 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Renuka Rayasam

38%flagged-word coverage
40 attributed words40% of attributed speech100% writer coverage
0%40.0%80.0%Attempt to Sell a Product -76.1 ptsWriter: 76.1%Renuka Rayasam: 0.0%0.0%Unattributed Quote+37.5 ptsWriter: 0.0%Renuka Rayasam: 37.5%37.5%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.