Harry and Louise Are Back: Insurers Planning on Double-Crossing Obama
Posted on May 18th, 2009 by Jason Rosenbaum in Profits Before People
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According to new information obtained by the Washington Post:
One week after the nation's health insurance lobby pledged to President Obama to do what it can to constrain rising health costs, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is putting the finishing touches on a public message campaign aimed at killing a key plank in Obama's reform platform.
As part of what it calls an "informational website," the company has hired an outside PR company to make a series of videos sounding the alarm about a government-sponsored health insurance option, known as the public plan. Obama has consistently maintained that a government-run plan, absent high-paid executives and the need for profits, could be a more affordable option for Americans who have trouble purchasing private insurance. The industry argues that creating a public insurance program will undermine the marketplace and eventually lead to a single-payer style system.
Somehow, this isn't surprising. On Friday, the health insurance industry showed how un-serious they were about really controlling costs by backing away from the promise they made to President Obama. And now, the same industry is planning on making videos (which could be turned into ads) to try and kill the public health insurance option, the only real way to control costs.
Check out the storyboards from their proposed ads [pdf]. The message is right out of the Frank Luntz playbook - scaring the public about the dangers of "government-run health care," and lying by omission about the fact that Obama's health care plan wouldn't force anyone to choose a public health insurance plan if they didn't want one.
Up until now, the disgraced CEO Rick Scott was the only one up on the air against Obama's health care reform plans. Not even Republicans had a coordinated message to attack health care, at least not until Frank Luntz came along. But now, it looks like the message carried by Harry and Louise might be returning, once again payed for by an insurance industry desperately looking for any way to protect their profits in the face of competition and reform.
Anyone who trusts or believes what these greedy insurance companies say is an absolute fool. They have proven their greed over and over with their refusal of claims that are heartbreaking and by refusing to insure people with pre-existing conditions with "normal" rates…or refusing to insure them at all. Like John Edwards said so many times…..the insurance companies should not even be at the table anymore. They've had decades upon decades to prove their case and they've FAILED miserably. Every American deserves to have healthcare coverage with no exceptions. And unless and until EVERYONE is in the "pot" you'll never see a true healthcare plan that is universal, as Hillary Clinton and the Edwards pointed out in their campaigns. With everyone contributing to it, the costs can be very, very affordable with no more increases every single year like what is constantly being done today. The drug companies are ripping off the people drastically. Just compare the price of drugs here and the price for the very same drugs in other countries. it's outrageous. And the Bush Adminstration allowed them to write their own policy, just like everything else. Enough. Get doctors and nurses at the table. Get real single-payer universal healthcare now. Anything else is a farce.
J.G. is saying the absolute truth! Only the wealthy would not agree.
Whoever thought that Private Ins groups showing up at the WH was a hallejah moment had their deeply tinted rose color glasses on.
This week, these "private groups" are targeting Individual Legislators (play #1)!
Why no one has bothered to demand that they show statistical data regarding the Canadian Healthcare system is beyond me…are they using the 2003 report?
Why is no one pressing Private Ins groups to show the Median Wait Time for surgery in this country…but be sure to compare apples to apples (when approved for procedure to date of surgery, instead of when I decided that I wanted the surgery - not approved by insurance or scheduling at hospital).
We are letting this group of way too easy and are allowing their rhetoric to go unchallenged.
Wake up! or Snooze you lose!
The problem with Health Insurance in the U.S is aggravated because we have not amended our Constitution to legalize the Human Rights. These are; Rights to food and shelter, education, medical, jobs, free speech, and life. These rights are unalienable and non negotiable, one is born with them, can never bargain, sell, or give them away. Any person denied any of these Rights is denied the Right to be fully human. No American should ever be denied these rights. The cherished part of the Bill of Rights ’pursuit of happiness’ in impossible without these Rights.