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Rep. Pete Stark: AHIP’s campaign for health reform is a sham |
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This morning, Representative Pete Stark (D-CA) released this statement in response to America’s Health Insurance Plans (an industry front group) campaign launch that Health Care for America Now will be crashing this morning:
“America’s Health Insurance Plans’ new ‘Campaign for an American Solution’ rings as true as the tobacco industry’s efforts to end smoking. There is nothing grassroots about it. It is designed, financed, and coordinated through their Washington trade association with the singular goal of protecting their profits.
“I hope it is true that these companies intend to be a positive force in health reform efforts, but I tend to be cautious when the fox starts drawing up plans for a new henhouse.”
We couldn’t agree more. AHIP will try, against all the facts, to convince us that we are happy and well served by the private insurance industry. The reality is, we’re not. Health industry profits continue to go up, while our benefits go down and our costs rise to debilitating levels. We need a solution. We need a public insurance plan, without the waste and excesses of the private insurance industry, to truly provide the affordable, comprehensive coverage we all desperately need.
AHIP’s campaign may be one of the first industry astroturf campaigns to get off the ground, but it won’t be the last. Health Care for America Now will be there fighting them every step of the way.
Stay tuned for pictures and video from our party crashing later this afternoon!Â
(also posted at the NOW! blog)
