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Swiftboaters Are Back, This Time To Block Healthcare Reform

Submitted by christine on Mon, 05/11/2009 - 2:18pm.

Analysis

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Christine Bowman

As the standard joke goes, we have some good news, and some bad news. The good news is that healthcare "industry leaders" told President Obama today they can find ways to slow the growth of healthcare costs by 1.5% or $2 trillion over 10 years. They're ready to embrace "voluntary" controls:

The president met with representatives of leading health industry groups, including hospitals, drug makers and doctors, who have agreed to slow the explosive growth of healthcare spending over the coming decade.

They have embraced several cost-saving strategies already being promoted by Washington policymakers, such as simplifying billing, restructuring the way hospitals are paid and improving information technology. Details on how the $2 trillion could be saved, however, are lacking in a letter they provided to the White House.

(LA Times)

The bad news is, "industry leaders" also have launched an ad campaign designed to torpedo comprehensive reform by turning public opinion against it. These ads have been paid for by healthcare industrialist Rick Scott and his misnamed group, "Conservatives for Patients' Rights." Which patient rights are they offering to protect exactly? The right to remain uninsured? The right to go bankrupt and lose their homes due to inflated, unpayable hospital bills?

The Washington Post describes Scott as "a multimillionaire investor and controversial former hospital chief executive" who was ousted as head of Columbia/HCA in the '90s -- a company that eventually had to pay $1.7 billion in fines for having overbilled the federal government and states for services it provided to sick and vulnerable Americans. Scott also was a George W. Bush partner in owning the Texas Rangers baseball team. The Post quotes Scott as uttering the conservative talking point that "free-market principles will solve our health-care problems."

Nice try. "Free-market principles ..." Is that the same as "voluntary" measures? Or does "free-market principles' refer to the bilking that Scott's company engaged in until brought to trial?

Now Scott has hired the same public relations firm that mounted the swiftboating campaign against John Kerry in 2004. More on that from The Washington Post:

The campaign is being coordinated by CRC Public Relations, the group that masterminded the "Swift boat" attacks against 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry, and is inspired by the "Harry and Louise" ads that helped torpedo health-care reform during the Clinton administration.

So we have a 2009 re-run in which a clique of wealthy conservatives is paying to put their manipulative, anti-democratic, anti-citizen message out on tv. They are dressing up their self-interested ads in the guise of good-old American free markets.

"Free" just sounds so good to American ears. But the reality of unregulated "free-market" healthcare could be about as charming as "free-market" air pollution or "free-market" banking monopolies or "free-market" nuclear weapons. And about as truthful as painting John Kerry as a feckless traitor.

The National Coalition on Health Care released this statement (excerpted):

We are very cautious about the particulars of the voluntary effort that groups proposed to the White House today. Most of the measures that they cited would help to make the healthcare system more efficient over time, but, as the Congressional Budget Office has indicated, should not be counted on to produce substantial savings soon.

Moreover, voluntary efforts -- without legislated requirements and enforcement -- have not worked well in the past.

Right-wing hero Ronald Reagan got it right when he embraced the concept of "trust, but verify." As our government attempts to craft a better healthcare approach, it's just fine to trust healthcare providers -- if they also legislate and advocate for citizen-taxpayers, not just for the industry.

Meanwhile, political messaging guru Frank Luntz has crafted a handy 28-page strategy guidebook for GOP lawmakers advising them to block healthcare reform not by opposing "reform," but by raising the specter of "Washington bureaucrats" getting in between healthcare consumers and their doctors. Ah, the irony.

Is the "Party of No" really going to force true healthcare reformers to drag out the list of Washington legislators who voted to intervene in Terri Schiavo's case?

"Free." "Voluntary." "I believe that free-market principles will solve our health-care problems." All high sounding words.

Beware the messengers, Americans. These guys also believe that a sucker is born every minute. They hope you are that sucker, just soaking up their extreme right-wing infomercial propagandized message.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

Can anyone describe to me

Submitted by oil exploration on Sat, 07/11/2009 - 5:29am.

Can anyone describe to me what healthcare IT is about? oil exploration

Maybe we should all police ourselves!

Submitted by luckyjean on Fri, 05/15/2009 - 12:50pm.

Hey, if we're going to just trust these health care companies to lower their prices voluntarily (rotfl!!), then how about we remove oversight from the rest of us as well? I hereby promise not to break any laws. There. Now you need never send a policeman to my house to check on anything I do. I promise not to knock over banks. Really. And I promise not to shoplift. Really. And I promise to pay all my taxes. I promise to renew the insurance on my car. I promise not to import pounds of coke from South America. I really, really promise with all my heart. Now don't send anybody around to actually check on what I'm doing. If it's good enough for the health care industry, it's good enough for the rest of us. Lucky Jean

Free markets work. Coverage denied. You die. Problem solved!

Submitted by Kevin Schmidt S... on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 12:19pm.

What's wrong with free market health care?

You get to choose which insurance company will deny you coverage for life saving treatment. Of course, just as long as your premiums are all paid up!

Seriously though, it's not a question of health care, it's a question of prevention.

Andorra, a tiny country stuck between France and Spain has no modern day health care. Yet, they have the longest life expectancy on earth.

How do they do it? They live in a pollution free environment, grow their own organic produce and pasture fed livestock, and they are not part of the stressful modern day rat race.

Stay away from factory farmed junk food. Once you leave the organic produce section of the grocery store, with few exceptions, you leave the food section of the grocery store.

The Insurance Industry Has More People Working...

Submitted by lapdogs on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 5:59pm.

to find ways to make sure your claim is DENIED, even if you have paid every penny in premiums, then having people working to get your claim PAID quickly!!! You pay your premiums in good faith and when you get a sudden illness, it's tough luck Charlie, you're on your own!!!

Rachel Maddow Hit The Nail On The Head

Submitted by lapdogs on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 11:17am.

about this on Monday night. Watch this first segment. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/

Public Hanging?

Submitted by Carol Burns on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 7:33am.

When the subject is health care reform, why would anyone make such an inane statement about public hanging? Try another example.

Nothing inane about stealing $1.7 Billion from the US Government

Submitted by Norm on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 9:11am.

Carol, I know you mean well, but where does the corruption, fraud and murder end? Bill Frist's Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) bilked Medicare to the tune of $1.7 Billion and was caught. The man and his fellow co-conspirators are traitors to the American People for stealing our money. These are the same people who supported the Bush coup d'etat of 2000, the invasion of Iraq on false pretenses, and wrote "Project For A New American Century" that called for a new Pearl Harbor Attack, i.e. 9/11 Attack. The American Justice System throws people in jail for 10 years for stealing a loaf of bread. Why shouldn't people who steal $1 Billion be publicly hung?

A Public Hanging for You, Rick Scott

Submitted by Norm on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 6:37am.

The American People are in a hangin' mood. They no longer feel like hangin' Blacks for fun since Blacks don't pose a threat to them anymore. The American People are turning their attention to the traitors who have robbed, stolen, cheated and murdered for fun and profit at the American People's expense. Rick Scott's latest "Swiftboat Liars for Crooks" advertisements are really saying, "Hang me, Hang me!" As an unrepented sinner, he really wants to be punished by the American People in the worst way. Let's all call our spineless corrupt Congress People and tell them that Rick should get what he deserves, a public hangin'.

2 trillion in savings promised

Submitted by mdog218 on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 4:14am.

bob reynolds if they are promising Obama $2 trillion in savings over 10 years based on a 1.5% reduction in costs on rate increases, how many trillions of dollars in rate increases are they planning over 10 years? What a deal!

Single payer plan needed

Submitted by anagitator on Mon, 05/11/2009 - 9:52pm.

We need single payer coverage that puts every dollar towards health care. I'm also in favor of making physicians employees of a single payer plan so that they have incentive to do health care instead of doing tests that may benefit their privately owned LLC's. Insurance companies and their over paid CEOs and red tape should be stripped from the system as unnecessary overhead.

In response to the argument

Submitted by shinythingswithbows on Mon, 05/11/2009 - 7:18pm.

In response to the argument that "the guvmint" would be in charge of health care decisions, nobody ever seems to point out that right now, insurance companies are the ones making those decisions. I guess it's okay if a publicly-traded insurance company is the one holding that bag, because it'll be good for the bottom-line of investors. I'm pretty sure the government would be more apt to invest health-care money in preventive procedures, because they may be more inclined to reason that this is where the money-saving lies- not in letting problems fester, but in taking care of the situation before things get worse/ more expensive. Example: many insurance companies consider hernia surgery when there is no strangulation of the intestines to be an elective procedure- if you are not in danger of developing gangrene, it's fine to let the problem linger. This is complete foolishness, because correcting the hernia before the intestines are strangled is much less expensive, and if you haven't developed gangrene, there also goes the need to remove the infected part of the intestinal tract. I always bring this up, because this is the situation that I'm in. The hernia was discovered 4 years ago, and now I no longer have medical coverage. I think it goes without saying that I am an ardent supporter of health-care reform.

Same old story

Submitted by willymack on Mon, 05/11/2009 - 6:55pm.

Same old song. The rethugs and their neocon puppet masters sure get a lot of mileage out of their limited repitoire. Single-payer universal health care (you know, like the rest of the civilized world has)would severly cut into their bloated profits, and they'd end up merely rich instead of obscenely wealthy. Not to worry; they're on the case and ramping up their brain-dead zombies with teabags hanging from their hats to protest the plan. As usual, the teabaggers will have things ass backwards, upside down, and inside out, and will make noise far out of proportion to their actual numbers, aided, as usual by the neocon "press" and the latter-day Pravda, fox noise.

Insurance and the mob

Submitted by Tom Tele on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 9:25pm.

I doctor I respect says that the mob got involved with insurance in a big way. They know a racket when they see it. They don't just use mafia tactics, they ARE the mob. Seriously, I would like to see an executive order (or legislative) banning private insurance for public needs. If you want to insure your yacht with Lloyds of London that should be legal but really nothing else as far as insurance. I've heard that Islam (not always my favorite authority but...) bans insurance cause it is betting in favor of disaster or something like that. Krugman got it right when he wrote that "free market" medicine doesn't work because it is not free people competing to offer better goods and services at a better price but insurance companies competing on who can eliminate anyone who might need a payout. I almost would overlook my opposition to torture in the case of insurance minions.

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