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Harry and Louise Are Back: Insurers Planning on Double-Crossing Obama |
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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.
(also posted at the NOW! blog)
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.
Hmmm… Health Care for All Americans is Simple!
1) Merge Medicare with Medicaide into one single “Income Based” system for elderly and poor citizens.
2) Require insurance companies to provide the same basic coverage for all Non-Medicare/Medicaide citizens, regardless of health status, at affordable rates.
3) Allow insurance companies to profit by offering additional benefits and options to those who qualify and are willing to pay the difference.
As for Funding…
1) Changing from an “Emergency Treatment” to a “Preventive Care” system will save local communities billions, maybe even trillions of taxpayer dollars!
2) Small business will be able to compete globally and hire additional taxpaying employees!
3) Wealthy seniors will pay their fair share!
4) The tremendous burden on future generations will be greatly reduced!
No surprise that the press has a memory loss when it comes to Obama’s Harry and Louise ad against Hillary Clinton’s healthcare plan (which now happens to be his own) Here’s the story by Paul Krugman http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/obama-does-harry-and-louis e-again/
Here’s the ad: http://www.princeton.edu/~pkrugman/obama-mailer.png
You say “Anyone who trusts or believes what these greedy insurance companies say is an absolute fool.” Ditto for the government! Absolutely incredible you want to trust a government so filled with fraud, waste and abuse to run your medical care. Lets go for a government sponsored lobotomy.
Thankfully, our Congress is starting to get some brass and slowing this march toward fascism down.