The Healthcare Report

By Staff

From Heather over at Crooks and Liars:

On CNN’s State of the Union, John King is shocked, shocked I tell you that liberal groups would want to take out ads against “centrist” Democrats for taking money from the health care industry and not supporting true health care reform.

In his chat with Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, King whines about a so-called “divided government,” saying that groups like DFA shouldn’t be pressuring Democratic Senators on issues like health care.

Brazile pushes back:

Well, first of all, the Republican party is trying to figure out who is leading them and what their charge is. I think there’s a very vigorous and healthy debate taking place inside the Democratic party…

I agree with Heather:

“If John King were doing his job, he’d be pointing out the conflicts of interest to the public rather than acting shocked that someone else is.”

Check out the video:

By Joe Frandino

House Minority Leader John Boehner recently wrote an op-ed for Townhall that attempts to criticize Democrats’ plans for environmental, financial and healthcare reform. Boehner’s claims, however, are in direct contradiction of several recent surveys and investigations by major, respected organizations:

Rep. Boehner said new legislation addressing global warming and healthcare will have “devastating consequences” for the middle class …

However:

Investment in clean energy technology will create more than 1.5 million American jobs, Center for American Progress, “Green Recovery,” Sep. 2008

Boehner’s home state of Ohio would gain more than 80,000 jobs from increased investment in clean energy, Center for American Progress, “Green Recovery,” Sep. 2008

More than 70% of Americans polled want an increased government role in health care, CNN survey from 3/5/09

Boehner attempts to promote the Republican plan of offering $5,710 tax credits to all families to pay for their own health care…

However:

In 2008, the full annual cost of employer-sponsored health insurance averaged $4,704 for an individual policy and $12,680 for a family policy, according to a report by The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, Jan 2009

By Joe Frandino

SEIU’s Change That Works Health Care Campaign has produced a detailed rebuttal to “Bulldozer” that the Media Matters Action Network has posted below.

Media Matters Action Network released this report on June 5, following Rick Scott and Conservatives for Patients’ Rights’ controversial segment that was directed at combating the public option health-care plan…

CPR Wants Viewers To Believe That The Health Insurance Market Is Large And Varied

FALSE CLAIM: “There are hundreds of choices of health care plans today…” [Conservatives for Patients’ Rights “Bulldozer” Ad, 6/4/09]

FACT: Only A Few Insurance Companies Dominate The Market, Leaving Americans With Limited Choices In Health Care. According to the American Medical Association, 94 percent of United States health care markets are considered highly concentrated, meaning that one company or a small group of companies control a great deal of the market. [American Medical Association, “Competition in Health Insurance,” 2008 Update]

CPR Wants Viewers To Believe The Government Will Take Away American’s Choices

FALSE CLAIM: “This government-run plan could crush all your other choices, driving them out of existence…” [Conservatives for Patients’ Rights “Bulldozer” Ad, 6/4/09]

FACT: Public Plan Will Only Drive Out Inefficient Private Plans, Leaving Consumers With Greater Choices And Better Care Options. According to Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) chairman Glenn Hackbarth’s comments on National Journal’s health care blog, “some private plans will not survive this competition – namely, plans that do little more than offer free-choice of provider, fee-for-service coverage. We don’t need those plans; a public plan can do that better.” [National Journal’s Health Care Blog, 12/8/08]

FACT: Private Plans That Offer Lower-Cost Options And More Comprehensive Plans Will Be Able To Compete. According to the Urban Institute: “Private plans that offer better services and greater access to providers, even at a somewhat higher cost than the public plans, would survive the competition in this environment. It is also conceivable that private plans offering a lower-cost option – for example, lower premiums than the public plan, say by exploiting care management innovations, and network and payment rate limitations – could stake out a separate niche in some markets.” [Urban Institute, 3/18/09]

FACT:Many States Run Public And Private Plans Alongside Each Other Successfully. According to the Center for American Progress: “Today, state governments (all of which regulate insurance companies) operate public Medicaid programs, purchase insurance for thousands of public employees, and regulate insurers. In fact, many states successfully offer their employees and retirees private health insurance plans side-by-side with these states’ self-funded health insurance plans.” [Center for American Progress, March 2009]

CPR Wants Viewers To Believe The Government Will Remove Coverage For 119 Million Americans

FALSE CLAIM: “Government-run plan” will force “119 million off their current insurance coverage, leaving no choices in health insurance and government in control of your health care.” [Conservatives for Patients’ Rights “Bulldozer” Ad, 6/4/09]

FACT:CBO Director: Lewin Study Claims Are Overstated. According to National Journal’s Congress Daily: “CBO Director Elmendorf told Senate Finance Committee members and staffers he expects fewer Americans would migrate from private health insurance to a public plan than projected by the oft-quoted study by nonpartisan policy experts at the Lewin Group.” [National Journal’s CongressDaily, 5/20/2009]

FACT: Lewin Group Is Mouthpiece For Insurance Industry. The Lewin Group was “acquired” by Ingenix in 2007, according to the Ingenix website. Ingenix is “a leading health information technology company.” According to the New York Times, INgenix is the “database business” of UnitedHealth Group. [Ingenix.com, 6/12/07; New York Times, 3/31/08]

CPR Wants Viewers To Support Maintaining The Failed Status Quo

Rick Scott in “Bulldozer”: “It’s not too late. Protect your health care choices. Tell Congress to say ‘no’ to a government-run plan.” [Conservatives for Patients’ Rights “Bulldozer” Ad, 6/4/09]

FACT: Scott Has Made His Fortune Off Our Broken Health Care System

Scott was ousted by the company’s board of directors in 1997 in the midst of the nation’s biggest health care fraud scandal, which involved alleged Medicaid and Medicare fraud

Scott Received Nearly $10 Million In Severance And A 5 Year Contract With Columbia/HCA Following Resignation. Modern Healthcare reported that Richard L. Scott’s “$9.9 million severance included a five-year consulting contract with HCA.” [Modern Healthcare, 7/11/05]

Scott’s 5 Year Consulting Contract Paid $950,000 Every Year. According to the New York Times: “The Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation said yesterday that it had agreed to pay its former chairman and chief executive nearly $10 million when he was forced out in July in the wake of an unfolding criminal investigation of the company. The agreement with the executive, Richard L. Scott, provided for a one-time payment of $5.13 million, as well as a five-year annual consulting fee of $950,000, for a total of $9.88 million, according to a copy of a severance agreement included in the company’s quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.” [New York Times, 11/14/97]

Scott’s Severance Package Included $300 Million In Stocks. According to the Florida Times-Union, Richard L. Scott left Columbia/HCA “with a $10 million severance package and 10 million shares of stock valued at more than $300 million.”

By Joe Frandino

Conservatives are ramping up their lies and fear mongering tactics to attempt to slow progress in the growing calls for American health-care reform.

The Americans for Prosperity Foundation plans to launch a “$1.7 million television-advertising campaign that negatively likens the U.S. health-care system envisioned by lawmakers to Canada’s publicly administered system,” though the proposed American plan has little resemblance to the Canadian system.

The Conservatives for Patients’ Rights plans a $20 million TV ad campaign beginning this Sunday that features 30-minute segments of uninterrupted commentary by doctors and patients from the UK and Canada (both government-directed health-care systems) describing the failings and shortcomings in their respective systems.

What these Conservative organizations fail to realize is the presence of choice within the proposed American system. The point of the public option is it offers Americans the ability to choose what kind of coverage they want—a choice they currently don’t have. Where Americans are currently forced to adhere to the private sector health-care system, and British and Canadian citizens are subject to only the nationalized health-care system, the proposed American system gives citizens the ability to choose.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) told reporters last week that he was trying to craft “a uniquely American solution” where people who like their health insurance can keep it.

The negative ads are scheduled to air in eight states with influential health-care lawmakers in Congress, including Montana, Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Dakota, Indiana, Alaska, and Nebraska. This just goes to show how much your efforts are needed to help counteract the fear tactics being used by these conservative groups to try and delay the right, necessary and impending change in the American health-care system, specifically in the states mentioned above that will be soon be bombarded with these negative ad campaigns.

By DFA Staff

House GOP leader John Boehner is knocking the public option, saying that any government component to healthcare is akin to “throwing the baby out with the bath water” because it will crowd out private health insurance.

If by “crowd out” Boehner means “pressured to compete”, then his logic makes sense. But it seems that Boehner needs to be reminded that capitalism thrives on competition. A public option would bring new competition into the market driving lower prices and incentives for better service and care, and that’s good for everyone.

Jonathan Singer at myDD makes a good point:

Seventy years ago, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Social Security program to ensure that every senior citizen in the United States had a baseline of insurance coverage, the private insurance industry didn’t go out of business. That is to say, even though every American bought in to the government system, the private insurers weren’t squeezed out.

Why, then, today would an option for the American people to buy into a government healthcare program destroy the private healthcare insurance industry? If a universal government old-age insurance program didn’t drive out of business the private old-age insurers, why would a non-universal government health insurance option drive out of business private healthcare insurers? Unless Republicans are conceding that the private healthcare insurance industry is even more monumentally inefficient than many already think it to be, their logic simply doesn’t work. Or am I missing something?

No, Jonathan, you’re not missing anything. But Boehner is.

By DFA Staff

As we continue to build support for a public option, the opposition is working against us. Last week, a new right-wing front group, Conservatives for Patient Rights, launched a million-dollar ad campaign filled with lies and fear to try and scare Congress out of passing real reform.

The group just happens to be backed by health insurance giant Rick Scott, whose for-profit hospital chain is infamous for defrauding Medicare.

In response, Health Care for America Now (HCAN) released a television ad detailing Scott’s dubious past in the health care industry:

Watch the video and share it with others. And while you’re at it, make sure you’ve added your name to the Stand with Dr. Dean petition.