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Health Care's Air War
Ironically, the hated health-insurance industry that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently labeled as “immoral” and “villains,” is running ads supporting certain components of a health-care bill, though they're working behind the scenes to scuttle a public-insurance option. But the most important ads might be the ones that AHIP, along with affected related interests like the pharmaceutical industry and the American Medical Association, are not running, given how successful their efforts were in blocking President Clinton's health plan in 1994.
“So far, the pharmaceuticals have been low key, the insurers have been low key, and the hospitals haven't really put a huge effort into this,” said Darrell M. West, vice president and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institute. “They're the people with the real money, so if they engaged in a negative way you'll see a lot more critical ads.”
And there are signs that their goodwill might not last forever. Recent proposals to tax expensive health-insurance premiums drew sharp responses from the insurance lobby and the House's movement toward creating a government insurance plan are also at odds with their interests. If they take off the gloves and aggressively target Obama's plan, it could lead to major escalation of the advertising wars.
In the meantime, the task of knocking down Obama's plan falls to the Republican National Committee and a host of conservative groups, who are being outspent significantly by the pro-reform crowd. Among these groups, the message has been varied with no clear line of attack. But with the policy details of health-care reform complex and, given the various pieces of legislation being discussed in Congress, sometimes contradictory, the campaigns often rely on emotional attacks more than anything else. Take for example, this recent RNC ad, which features images of vulnerable babies, frightened children, and grave warnings of Obama's “risky experiment”—all without any description of the plan whatsoever.
The RNC on Obama’s “Risky Experiment”
“They want to stir up emotion and make people afraid of the unknown,” West said. He suggested that Obama offer a clearer position on his health-care plan rather than deferring to Congress, thus reducing the confusion over the Democrats' policy that his opponents are currently exploiting.
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SpeakEnglish
Loss of freedom is cause for real fear
Government taking more and more control away from citizens is cause for real fear
Freedom of speech being limited is cause for real fear
We don't have to fear lack of health insurance, most everyone in the US is already covered in one way or another.
We do ned to fear the trampling of the consitution and becoming comrades of the State
Bunx05
Quick question: How is an increase in choice and protection against corporate greed the same as the "Government taking more and more control away from citizens"? Wouldn't that be the government giving us more control over healthcare? The CBO came out and said that, based on any of the current bills being worked on, in 10 years 96% of the population would have private insurance. Only 4% would use the public option. No matter how you slice it that's 100% coverage in the nation. And that's more than we have now.
healthcareworker
So..are you against public schools? the post office? roads and bridges? airports and rail transport? police and fire service? national defense? These are all things that are provided by the government and we are lucky to have them! Providing our citizens with decent affordable healthcare is just as important as providing them with K-12 education and if you think government run health care will be more expensive than private insurance I invite you to send all your future mail with FEDEX rather than the postal service.
smitisan
Freedom? Control? You only have as much freedom and control as you can buy, and even then it's only the freedom to choose your chains. Let your job go to an overseas boiler room because your ex-employers are exercising THEIR freedom, lose your health insurance unless you can afford some insane COBRA payments, and two months later find a strange lump on your body. THEN come talk to me about fear.
jonnylee
Of course you have to fear lack of health insurance. 14,000 people are losing it every day with their jobs. That's a pretty backwards system.
msbpodcast
"We don't have to fear lack of health insurance, most everyone in the US is already covered in one way or another."
Duh... Not if you lost your job or your coverage, like MILLIONS of US citizens.
"We do ned to fear the trampling of the consitution and becoming comrades of the State"
Learn to spell. Its "need" not "ned" and its "constitution" not "consitution".
Why are US citizens so afraid of their government?
Everywhere else but in the lowest Third World Hell hole, its the governments who are afraid of their citizens.
So we're just going to stick our heads up our asses and pay The CEO of CIGNA more per hour than their health bills are likely to run in a year?
Why? Because we stupid illiterate cretins?
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sophia5
If you enjoy government bureaucracy at the
Department of Motor Vehicles,
then you'll love bureaucratic Government Healthcare.
Will your elderly parent need a hip replacement ?
Guess what, some government "community organizer"
will decide if your parent is " Worthy. "
GET IN LINE AND TAKE A NUMBER.
AlanD2
22,000 uninsured Americans die every year. Should they be afraid of losing freedom?
AParker
I find it interesting that some people here use the Canadian style of healthcare as a scare tactic. Well, I live in Canada. I have elderly parents and a grandson who has had 3 surgeries. I am so thankful that I don't live in the US (even though I was born there and could go back if I wished to). In Canada, we are not told which hospitals or doctors to use. That is totally untrue. My mother in her 80's was treated immediately after a stroke. She was not turned down because of her age. My grandson's surgeries were not delayed and he received expert care. Waits for elective surgery are not the length of time being reported in the American media. And, none of us had to mortgage our homes to pay for the health care received. There is no deductible to pay. Some Provinces have no monthly premiums at all. In BC, it is less than $100 / month. Nobody is turned down when they come to emergency at any hospital. So what is so frightening about our healthcare system? What you have now would terrify me.
I
drmarkklein
When the GOP killed Clinton's health bill, many more Americans then had affordable health insurance. Now the majority of Americans are struggling to pay health insurance premiums and co-pays so they're no mood for the Republicans anti-government health care propaganda. The GOP will commit political suicide with what's left of its middle base opposing Obama's health initiative.
Ritarita
It will be
A real magic trick
If the GOP can once again
Convince those who can least afford it
To vote against
Their own best interests.
marinersarenumber1
Rita: On target. Funny, I haven't seen Plant poking incessantly at the responders of this story. If she's not the first poster in line, she can't set the tone. Maybe she's feeling deprived, while I'm feeling relieved.
Ritarita
Plant a she?
That's a chilling notion
I hadn't considered.
No.
That's not in the realm
Of possibility.
socialworklady
The Plant is busy at the moment with a number of Town Hall Meetings
AlanD2
Yeah. Conservatives must be highly conflicted. The GOP screws them economically, but it lets them keep their hatred of gays, immigrants, and that damn n*gg*r in the White House.
periscope
The choice for the American people is too trust the Republican Party and the Healthcare Insurance industry or to trust Obama.
The Republican Party is using it's usual lies and fearmongering on behalf of their Healthcare Industry patrons to prevent the American people from getting something they desperately need - Affordable healthcare.
Obama's healthcare initiative with of having a public option along with private healthcare insurance is not "radical" or "revolutionary." It's the reality in most western, industrialized states in the world - and they deliver healthcare coverage to all their people at half the cost that ours does.
If a person is rational, all they have to do is look at how fast their private healthcare insurance premiums have grown in the past ten years. If that doesn't scare you more than the Republican's lies, then continue to enrich the profiteering private insurance companies, until the day you will no longer be able to afford it.
The rest of us will be paying much lower premiums to the public healthcare option.
penscott
"The choice for the American people is too trust the Republican Party and the Healthcare Insurance industry or to trust Obama."
What a dreadful choice!!!
johngaltmateyko
Enjoy you're public healthcare option - and the trillions of dollars it will cost. But hey, some one else will pay for it, right? 5 out of 6 Americans have health insurance, but if Obama the God tells you that this is an emergency and in the countries best interest, than anyone who thinks otherwise is a corporate shill using the pretense of individual freedom as an excuse to pillage fellow citizens.
As long as Uncle Sam's takes care of you from cradle to grave everything is going to be OK. Heck, look how great Social Security, Amtrak, USPS, Medicare, NAFTA, Cash for Clunkers, etc... have worked out. Why WOULDN'T we want to hand over control of 1/6 of our economy and put bearcats in control of our healthcare? In Pelosi I trust.
AlanD2
Typical lies from Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. With private insurance, we are paying twice as much per capita as any other country on earth, yet we rank only 37th in best health care and 50th in longevity.
Are you saying that Americans are too stupid to do what every other industrialized country on earth has succeeded in doing?
AlanD2
By the way, the 22,000 uninsured Americans who die each year probably do think that this is an emergency.
WestVillager
Interesting commentary on the role of advertising. Obama's successful key messages and those reinforced in ads during the campaign (hope, change) were vague allowing for personal interpretation.
periscope
Ritarita: It won't be a "magic trick" if the GOP fools Americans into rejecting a public healthcare measure. It will just be another, in their long line of "dirty tricks."
Progressive2
I think this is the first time I've seen Democrats on the offense since a long time.
d49nj00
Recess Rally - Nationwide Rally against socialized Medicine 8/22/09
(this grassroots effort is really astro turf)
Rachel Maddow exposes the big money backers posing as average Americans
behind the anti-health care reform event "Recess Rally." ... recessrally.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXjiMmXOrBM
NOTE: didn't get into the site recessrally.com until 2am, it was very busy. Site lists
every state and rally address. I'll be there 8/22/09 in support of health care reform now.
Premium individual HMO 258/mo increased to 598./mo within the last 8yrs. deductible
and co-pays have also increased.
kayjay
It should be an easy argument to make. Americans pay more taxes for government-provided healthcare than the British, per capita. You're already paying more taxes than a universal health care system would cost, but only insuring government workers and the military. Plus our private insurance is cheaper since the government chips in the amount they'd be paying if we got it done through the state.
I really don't understand how anyone can make a valid argument against it.
periscope
Have you had your meds today? Or do you always babble incoherently in your postings?
Bunx05
Did you only learn to read today? The post was clearly a foreign perspective on our domestic clusterfuck of healthcare.
AlanD2
periscope: I love your personal attacks. It shows that you have nothing useful to contribute.
AmericanPravda
kayjay: "I really don't understand how anyone can make a valid argument against it."
That's the whole point; anyone CAN'T make a VALID argument against it. Any and all arguments presently being made against it are trumped up nonsense at best or blatant falsehoods at worst!
johngaltmateyko
For the exact reason you stated. If it's accurate that we are "already paying more taxes than a universal health care system would cost" than it's a shining example of how inefficient our government is. When Hillarycare was proposed in '93 the annual cost ran from "$13.5 billion in 1993 reaching $38.3 billion in 2003" - and that was horrifying to people at the time. This plan STARTS at a $1 trillion. Why such a huge disconnect? There's got to be a cheaper way to get people covered. Why not cover private health insurance premiums with tax refunds? Or have the government pay for universal catastrophic insurance to end medical bankruptcies? American's clearly don't want/need this, and it's being jammed down our throat by a nice guy with a nice smile that makes us feel good that we're all so open minded and liberal.
AlanD2
johngaltmateyko: It is not government inefficiencies that make our health care system a disaster - it is the inefficiencies of the insurance, pharmaceutical, and medical industries.
Just as an example, insurance companies have 30% to 50% overhead. This means that up to half the money you (or your employer) pay for your health care insurance goes to profits, CEO pay and bonuses, advertising, researching which people to deny coverage, lawyers fighting to avoid paying claims, etc.
Government-run programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA have overheads of less than 1%, which means much more money is spent actually taking care of sick people.
HampsterW
Does anyone find it ironic that they have pissed away $65 mil this year on advertising with the potential of another $8 mil per week and all the while people are bitching about how we are going to pay for reform?
Dan047
It's incredible reading the postings on healthcare reform. I suspect none of you posting on this page real have a good understand of healthcare in the U.S. or any other country for that matter.
I have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with a Government run health plan for my parents, the postal workers health insurance. Just trying to change their doctor to a more competent doctor took days of calling doctors that all declined to take them, due to their health insurance. Almost all the doctors told me they took only so many patients from their plan and they wouldn't take any more, due to the low compensation they received. Finally, I was able to basically beg a doctor to take them out of sympathy.
Meanwhile, I have no such problems with my company sponsored plan. In fact I am impressed with how well Blue Cross has handled me and my claims.
Before you embrace a plan that will forever change the healthcare landscape, read the fine print! The fact that the democratically controlled Congress wants to rush any healthcare plan through, should be enough to cause alarm.
Here's an idea, how about proposing new regulation on the insurance companies, provide premium payments for those unable to pay for insurance themselves and reform tort law to allow doctors to reduce their cost for malpractice insurance.
Now that would be health reform I think everybody could agree on!
Progressive2
stop thinking it's not helping.
bhavanibbana
Oh my, it will take me a while to count all of your logical fallacies.
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periscope
Your argument has been proven untrue time and again in the USA with Medicare and VA Healthcare, and with the many foreign governments that manage the hybrid healthcare systems in their countries (France, Holland, England - to name a few).
Is seems that despite all the evidence you insist on conjuring up problems that don't exist. Your worst fears about Medicare right now are only speculation, not fact.
And the bottom line is: if we don't control healthcare spending in America, it will bankrupt all of us, including the businesses and the government. We must make a change.
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msbpodcast
The governments in Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany and even lowly Mexico, Brazil, The Netherlands, Greece end the rest of the OAS and the EU, all capitalist countries, have NO SAY in your choice of doctors, NO SAY in your choice of procedures, NO SAY in your choice of hospitals, but they DO have a say in paying for it.
That why they have SINGLE PAYER systems.
As for the straw-man argument of putting governmental people, people who DON'T have to show their results in a balance sheet at the end of the year, I would ask:
"Who do you trust more, some faceless bureaucrat in Washington who has nothing riding on REFUSING YOU COSTLY treatment, or your local FOR PROFIT insurance company who's corporate bonuses depend on you NOT getting treatment."
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AlanD2
misterdon: Without the CEO bonuses, profits, and other overhead (anywhere from $6,000 to $9,000 of the $18,000 you pay for health insurance each year), you would be getting a lot more care for your money.
The overhead for Medicare is less than 1%, so who do you think is getting the better deal?
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Dimlah
"First, you might consider moving to one of these places if you believe in their superiority."
The old, "If you don't like America than you can GETOUT argument." Always classy.
"Secondly, in response to your rhetorical question I would ask "What interest does a faceless bureaucrat in Washington have in extending a benefit to me when it may conflict with his marching orders to achieve some particular budget number handed him by some idiot legislator?""
So you're comparing a situation where a private enterprise has a direct financial incentive to deny you coverage with a hypothetical nightmare scenario where a civil servant denies you coverage to end up 'on budget?' Also, I like how apparently in your world that budget will be set by an 'idiot legislator' and not a genius like the folks down at AIG.
"The current system is unsustainably expensive, but it pretty much allows choices to be made in an atmosphere that avoids conflicts between economic issues and human and ethical issues."
I guess you're technically correct in that people who currently make your healthcare decisions don't even have to pretend to consider the ethical or human side of the issue. Under oath, testifying before Congress, insurance company directors have stated that they don't plan to discontinue the practice of trying to deny sick people with existing policies coverage. While we're on the subject (and for about the 96,512th time), if you already have a policy you will be allowed to keep it. You really really will.
"I can assure you with the highest level of certainty that the extent to which treatments are refused are far higher in single payer systems, and will by definition be higher in the reforms being proposed than under our current system."
I'm assuming you have statistics, peer-reviewed academic articles and detailed case studies to back this up? Or is this down-home hocum small-town wisdom from 'real America?'
"As to trust, perhaps you should look at current polls to see how much "trust" Americans have in their elected representatives."
I wonder how the insurance giants are polling right now.
finderj
Too bad they aren't spending the lobbying money on health care.
readerman64
GOP claim people are happy with what they have. I have several questions:
1. Are people currently denied services because of pre-existing illnesses ?
2. Have your medical insurance cost increased ?
3. If you lose your job will you be able to pay for medical insurance?
4. If you go into the hospital will your coverage pay the bill ?
5. Do you believe the GOP when they claim the Reform will demand old people to plan their death because that would help eliminate the expense.
MemphisTN29
First and foremost I really do sympathized with Dan047, at the same time I don't feel that every one who is against the current effort for a version of healthcare reform really and completely understands what is on the table. I use to work for a company that processed medical claims electronically to insurance providers. You wouldn't believe the reason's at times why the companies would reject a claim. It would be something as small as a coding error (and they would try to hold the claim long enough so that the provider wouldn't be able to correct it and then resubmit for payment) to something as big as the obvious patient doesn't have sufficient coverage. I'm saying this to say that we shouldn't be afraid of change of any kind, and if we are unclear of the details of what this reform effort has, during this recess we need to demand that information from our reps and senators instead of going on these mob like rants about the evil of a government option. I'm 29 years old, I have a bachelor's in business, and I use to work for a bank until February of this year. So of course that means I don't have medical coverage...the thing that I'm afraid of however is that because I live with HIV that I will be denied from getting coverage because I do have a per-existing condition.
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