MoveOn TV Ad Targets Health Insurance Industry (VIDEO)

A new ad by the folks at MoveOn.org targets the health insurance industry. Timed to coincide with the annual conference of America's Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group, the ad shows patents in doctors' waiting rooms disappearing behind giant piles of money.

An announcer says,"Know what the insurance companies see when they look at you? Money. Which is why they're against the President's healthcare reform."

The Huffington Post was at the AHIP conference yesterday.

A MoveOn press release says the spot will run for a week on cable and in D.C. starting Thursday.

WATCH:

UPDATE 3/12/09: Alert Reader Roger Danielsen writes in to say that the doctor's office shown in MoveOn's ad bears a striking resemblance to the veterinary clinic where Danielsen takes his dogs in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Compare the doctor's office:

To the vet:

Comments

[Natalie4Obama]

In England I grew up with private health care, which is offered as an alternative to universal health care.

BUPA, the private health service is competing with a free service so the hospitals are luxurious and the care is state of the art.

NHS, the universal health care is motivated by keeping people healthy rather than financial reasons so those who enter the profession make decisions based on health, not what drug companies have bribed him to over prescribe. Any prescription drugs, generic or not is $10.

People have been scared into thinking that this system did not work but trust me it does - the 'free' care I got over the years was a thousand times better than my experiences here in the USA.

Universal health care would be a very fast way to help the economy - small businesses are struggling to pay for employees and people who pat individually such as me pay $250 a month plus endless copays if I do use it.

The result is people without health insurance and people who don't get preventative care which makes the problem so much worse. The population here also needs to learn to eat better - fast food is to blame for many of the cancer and heart disease spikes we are seeing.

[countryrds]

Single payer is the most cost effective and efficient health care solution we could have. But ultimately it also would be the end of large insurance companies and radically reduce profits for pharmaceutical companies. Any change in this direction will bring well financed and determined opposition. The best we can hope for will be gradual change. Not what I see as best, but still better than what we have.

[javster420]

Some light reading for those wondering: "hmmmm...why not single-payer health insurance?"

Amy Goodman from DemocracyNow explains.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090310_put_single_payer_on_the_table/

-Jav

[nomoredead]

I just donated. Everyone should help if they can.

[sarabono]

Why don't the Dem's just enact Medicare and the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan for everyone?
Both are very successful programs and we have history on how to run them.

[westreal]

Go Move-On!

[Tom Payned]

I wish people would resurrect Harry & Louise, (if they're still alive) and having them tell the truth. Instead of a government bureaucrat standing between them and their doctor, having a for profit insurance company hack denying coverage has been much better for their health, and here's the greatest joke, kept costs down.

Yes, there is nothing like my doctor, whose been treating me for more than 10 years, be questioned and denied prescriptions and treatments that are medically necessary for my health, by non medical personnel.

For Profit companies are just that. They collect my $480 per month every month, and deny me a prescription that costs under a hundred dollars a month. The next year, they raise my premium, and still deny medical care.

This as been a great 15 years since Harry and Louise.

[esquire07]

The US is a Capitalist Nation... the idea of "Democracy" is just a fallacy to keep the Peasants in line.

Health Care is a Business... plain and simple. The Prostitutes in Congress are owned by their Corporate pimps. Americans could be dying in the streets of The Plaugue and if they have no insurance they will be left to die.

Health care = Profit. Plain and simple.

Plenty of Money to bomb the hell out of everybody and their grandmother, but no money to help the sick and elderly of the nation.

Health Care is a privledge.... not a right. Americans work hard and their taxes are used to decimate muslims that live on top of Oil fields... not to keep them health. What a disgrace of a NAtion the US truly has become.

[unite4change]

Exactly and would should make sure to vote all these prostitutes our of office.

[peacegurl48]

The Insurance Companies are a large part of the horror stories told by those who have health insurance. Most are heartless driven only by PROFIT and the bottom line.

[esquire07]

Corporate owned and operated America... Plain and simple. There will always be plenty of money to drop nepalm on innocent women and children, but never enough to care for the sick.

The "Greatest Country" in the World. What a Pathetic Joke.

[Genmaicha]

amen to that.
America- the land of stress, worry and fear. It's a rip-off society.

[yngve]

I have read a lot of blogs and seen many programs denigrating single payer national health care systems. They seem to come from people that have no personal experience with such systems. Numerous studies has established that single payer national health care systems cost about half of our system while providing better health care as measured by outcome such as infant mortality, longevity, hospital mistakes etc. My family has personal experience with national health care systems in England, Germany, Norway and USA from living in those countries. I would not hesitate one moment to choose any of their systems over ours (USA). It is difficult to understand why systems demonstrated to be better than ours, no matter which criteria you use to compare them, are not seriously considered here in the USA. Are we that misinformed, brainwashed, uneducated, dogmatically tied to capitalist philosophy (that in this case is failing), not as smart as citizens in other countries, or is it that it was not invented by the self-proclaimed greatest nation on earth.

A viable health care system must also be decoupled from ones place of work like the rest of the world. This will help make our industry more competitive, and encourage employee mobility into new economic activities to help spawn and expand new businesses.

The bottom line, born out by facts and not emotions or dogma, is that single payer national health care systems work better for more people at lower cost than our for profit system.

[boophus]

One point that isn't mentioned is the cost to states, counties, cities and businesses to keep the deal they made with employees for health insurance. We are retired and I fully expect to lose our health insurance within 5 years because the cost for our former employers is going through the roof and they can't pay those skyrocketing premiums for much longer. Since I have a pre-existing condition I expect to be refused coverage even on my own dime. But that makes no difference because I wouldn't pay for it to some insurance company where profits come first and this years bottom line is an altar upon which people are sacrificed.

[9liberal]

I hope we can bring them down!!

[unite4change]

Don't hope, we must bring them down. It's really in ours hands, not President Obama. It's not about him, it's about us, and what are willing to tolerate from the politicians we elect and lobbyists buy.

[PocketWatch]

Without going into a long story unless someone asks, I'll just say that insurance companies, in general, are the pimps and whores of the business world. (This is a direct quote from a Federal District Judge from Florida at the conclusion of a 7 year lawsuit.) 'Nuff said...

[Yarrr]

I believe the insurance industry is the single most dangerous thing to the health of the American people.

[clearthinker2008]

The insurance industry and Monsanto.

[ohmetoo]

Add the incompetent FDA to the list, poison peanuts anyone.

[KJLSanDiego]

I pay a mint monthly to be self-insured, but I am glad to be independent of an HMO or equivalent, now more than ever.
It is nice to get things like bills and test results sent directly to me, and to not have to deal with a "middle man" when it comes to my own health.
However, if I can get the same quality of care for cheaper through the government, I am all for it. I look forward to a day when I do not have to check my balance to see if I can afford a doctors visit, lab fees, and prescription medicine.