Closing Pro-Reform Ad Has Private Insurers On Corporate Jets, High-Fiving (VIDEO)

Two pro-health care reform groups are launching a "closing argument" television ad campaign in which private insurers are portrayed as private jet-riding profit-seekers who are "leaving families in financial ruin."

In a spot set to air on national cable networks as well as on CBS during the first round of NCAA tournament games, Americans United for Change and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) boil down their case for reform to one succinct equation: "If the Insurance companies win ... we lose."

"Health Insurance companies are out of control," the spot reads, with a picture of insurance executives high-fiving in the background. "They deny our claims, drop us when we're sick, and pay their CEOs huge bonuses. They refuse to cover people who have "pre-existing conditions" ... leaving families in financial ruin ... at the same time taking record profits. Time to hold the insurance companies accountable."

The script exemplifies the extent to which progressives, unions, and the Democratic Party apparatus have framed the health care debate as a referendum on private insurance rather than, say, the need to reform the medical system itself. Of course, the bill set to be considered by the House of Representatives this week does not contain a government-run insurance option to fully disrupt the private insurance market.

That said, AFSCME, AUC and others have become fully invested in seeing reform's passage and are opening up their wallets to ensure it does. The newest ad, called "Accountable," has $200,000 behind it.

Comments

[helonias]

11:19 PM on 03/16/2010

Luke 16:19-25. "Now there was a certain rich Health Care CEO, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day on his private jet. And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table; besides, even the dogs would come and lick his sores.
Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.'
But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony...'"

[lared]

04:07 PM on 03/16/2010

You are mandated to buy auto Insurance,and will be ticked if you are stopped by police and can not show proof of ins. If it is good enough for an auto, why not for health?

[econ1]

05:17 PM on 03/16/2010

You have to have auto insurance if you wish to drive a car (although in CA over 25% don't have it due to lax enforcement). If you don't want to drive a car, you don't have to buy auto insurance.

You could say that if you want to be treated you have to have health insurance (or pay out of pocket). The reason some younger people (as I once was and did) do not choose to buy insurance is that given the requirements of some states you have to pay for a lot of things you are very unlikely to need (good for the insurance companies but not a good deal).

But since hospitals are required to treat, and people can therefore buy TV's or big wheels rather than insurance and still get treated (talking about those who can buy such things)....I would go along with you and say that we should require people to buy insurance.

[Wallysmom]

09:46 PM on 03/16/2010

I still don't understand why your point hasn't hit home. 24% of Californians have no health insurance. Who is paying for their care? We are. Anyone that has insurance. For the folks in LA who decided not to have homeowners insurance in a flood zone, who pays for their loss? We do. Ask the average American if they want to contribute to a town in FL that has been wiped out in a hurricane and they'll say no. Well, EVERYBODY IS. That is how it works in the great capitalistic USA. For Romney to tout his healthcare reform in MA. and how terrific it works...it has a mandate. They also have an Uncompensated Health Pool that provides healthcare to those who don't have it -- partially subsidized by Federal money. Massachusetts tax filers who failed to enroll in a health insurance plan that was deemed affordable for them lose the $219 personal exemption on their income tax. I find it amazing that conservatives and Teabaggers scream about personal liberties and yet have no problem letting others foot the bill.

[mw21]

03:35 PM on 03/16/2010

With apologies to Bob Dylan:

"Then they bring them to the factory
Where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders
And then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles
By insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping
To Desolation Row"

Whatever it takes to get us out from under the health insurance mafia!

[murphthesurf3]

01:37 PM on 03/16/2010

LET'S ALL RECALL THE PROPAGANDA BIG FIVE!

Here are five basic rules of propaganda, courtesy of Norman Davies in his extraordinary book "Europe: A History":

* The rule of simplification: reducing all data to a simple confrontation between 'Good and Bad', 'Friend and Foe'.

* The rule of disfiguration: discrediting the opposition by crude smears and parodies.

* The rule of transfusion: manipulating the consensus values of the target audience for one's own ends.

* The rule of unanimity: presenting one's viewpoint as if it were the unanimous opinion of all right-thinking people: draining the doubting individual into agreement by the appeal of star-performers, by social pressure, and by 'psychological contagion'.

* The rule of orchestration: endlessly repeating the same messages in different variations and combinations.

THINK TEA PARTY; THINK FOX, THINK DEATH PANELS, THINK GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER OF MEDICAL CARE, THINK LIMBAUGH; THINK DRUDGE REPORT; AND THINK OF ALL OF THEIR PROGRESSIVE COUNTERPARTS.

BUT ABOVE ALL T-H-I-N-K!

[Lee Stranahan]

12:49 PM on 03/16/2010

Wow - this ad is a total pack of lies. Shame on the people who made.

Here's my response -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqlrHgku1Io

[murphthesurf3]

01:31 PM on 03/16/2010

Not a total pack of lies. The underlying narrative is correct: big profits, big bonuses/salaries for the top dogs, narrow limitations on coverage, slashed benefits, rising premiums. What it implies is that the current bill deals with all of this? It doesn't. Your Youtube post is an accurate counterpoint.

BUT, the ad is a piece of propaganda much like the propaganda from the other side. They have done a good job of framing the battle is simple, easy to comprehend, emotionally powerful, terms.

The truth is complex. Stick to the truth and lose?

Or are you of the school of thought that says: better no bill than this bill?

[bthechangeyouseek]

01:31 PM on 03/16/2010

state your reasons and cite your work.

[CaptainVideo]

11:59 AM on 03/16/2010

This bill is the last chance for health insurance reform for at least a decade. If it fails, rates are going to go through the roof and more and more people will lose coverage. Health care is going to absorb more and more of our GDP.

Anybody who cares enough about solving the problem to put their money behind their convictions should support this and simular ads by making a contribution to Americans United for Change at the following site:

http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/

[henrypapillon]

09:47 PM on 03/16/2010

You are right there. it will be a sign that there will never be enough power to overcome big business and they can do what they want.

[Wallysmom]

09:53 PM on 03/16/2010

There will be wild rejoicing in Insurance City (Hartford CT) if healthcare reform hits the skids. Healthcare stock is flying...check out NYSE for Wellpoint, HealthNet, Cigna, Anthem....makes you sick.

[econ1]

11:07 AM on 03/16/2010

Unfortunately I think the government is out of control as well.

[CaptainVideo]

11:55 AM on 03/16/2010

That is because of the systematic sabotaging of Obama's agenda by the Party of No. Passing the health care reform bill is a powerful way to say NO! to the Party of No.

[WordPlaya]

02:14 PM on 03/16/2010

Even though it's no where near the bill that I wanted, I'm voting YES because a vote for YES is a vote against NO

Anything I can do to screw the RepubNOcans is fine with me because the RepubNOcans and the Dixiecrats are the real reason we do not have what we want. That right there is reason enough for me to want to see that this bill gets passed.

[econ1]

05:20 PM on 03/16/2010

I think this will be a non-denominational screwing.

[highplainslawyer]

11:06 AM on 03/16/2010

I wonder about Tokyo Rose. She was born Ikuko Toguri in Los Angeles and was an American living in Japan when the war started. After the war, she was indicted for treason, and eventually convicted on one count.

So does Citizen's United protect the likes of Tokyo Rose, Axis Sally, or an American who chooses to serve as a spokesman for Al Quaeda. How far does the First Amendment go in allowing individuals and American citizens to give aid and comfort to our enemies. Is the First Amendment a suicide pact?

[CaptainVideo]

11:56 AM on 03/16/2010

Red Herring alert!

[Jimtoday]

12:31 PM on 03/16/2010

Wow, talk about hijacking a thread with scurrilous 70 year old "news"! How's that Tea Party going? Yawn.

[TheOuroborus]

10:51 AM on 03/16/2010

I thought it was actually an ad against HRB! If this bill passes, I'm dumping all my stocks in Aetna!

[notAMoron]

11:09 AM on 03/16/2010

Why would you do that? They stand to profit more than ever with the government herding the uninsured into the system with a trillion dollars in subsidies.

[mjl422]

11:40 AM on 03/16/2010

Yeah, I think people lost sight of that with all the "Government Run Healthcare" talk. The insurance companies will make more money than ever before. It's a win win for them.

[TheOuroborus]

10:44 AM on 03/16/2010

That's all well and good, but the "how's" are left out. There's no public option, no expansion of Medicare, no support for generic affordable drugs and no oversight committee to cap insurance rates.

How is that reform? Forcing private firms to accept pre-existing and forcing everyone to pay whatever the private firms tell us to pay? That's pretty much it. How do I benefit from that? As a Californian, I won't.

[AllAboutNothing]

06:54 PM on 03/16/2010

However the final bill has not been signed by the Pres. At this stage there will be ammendment after ammendment to the bill that is being voted on. This bill must be "cleaned up" before the Pres. will sign it Remember it will not go into effect for a couple of years. The goal is to get something in terms HR passed., then it can be refined.

[jayraye]

10:28 AM on 03/16/2010

Yes, Big Insurance is a corrup and imoral industry, so plz, plz, mandate every American Citizen to them. That'll teach 'em, by golly.

[rmonroe]

10:22 AM on 03/16/2010

Finally, some truth in advertising!

[TheOuroborus]

10:46 AM on 03/16/2010

Yeah! Force us all to pay for insurance with no public option or oversight! Yeah! Oh, wait...

[Dustee]

03:14 PM on 03/16/2010

Did you know that NO bill (medicare/medicade) in the beginning was perfect and they had to work on it over time. That's what is planned (per: Sharrod Brown) now.

[tbone99]

11:05 AM on 03/16/2010

Except they are all high fiving because if reform passes - THEY WIN!

Billions of mandated dollars coming their way for bonuses, raises,conferences in exotic locales and the
best of it all - a toothless government to try and enforce anything .

[Sub Libertate Quietum]

10:09 AM on 03/16/2010

– In the 2008 Obama-Biden health care plan on the campaign’s website, candidate Obama promised that “any American will have the opportunity to enroll in [a] new public plan.” [2008]

– During a speech at the American Medical Association, President Obama told thousands of doctors that one of the plans included in the new health insurance exchanges “needs to be a public option that will give people a broader range of choices and inject competition into the health care market.” [6/15/09]

– While speaking to the nation during his weekly address, the President said that “any plan” he signs “must include…a public option.” [7/17/09]

– During a conference call with progressive bloggers, the President said he continues “to believe that a robust public option would be the best way to go..” [7/20/09]

– Obama told NBC’s David Gregory that a public option “should be a part of this [health care bill],” while rebuking claims that the plan was “dead.” [9/20/09]

[DimBulb2]

10:32 AM on 03/16/2010

one step at a time

[tbone99]

11:09 AM on 03/16/2010

With billions in mandated premiums the insurance companies will now go to work to dismantle anything they don't like in this bill and ensure that taxpayers don't get any bright ideas about trying to add reforms that would cost them any profits..... and the beauty of it all- we will be financing them to work against us.!

Thanks to the Dems - we have been sold into corporate serfdom.

[AllAboutNothing]

07:02 PM on 03/16/2010

Thank you, the revisions haven't been written yet.

[JohnStuartMill]

10:03 AM on 03/16/2010

Why is that "high-fiving" thing in the headline? This is a commercial; those aren't real insurance company executives -- they're actors, and that high-fiving is a visual metaphor. Cripes.

I'm beginning to think reality is obsolete. Apparently news publishers just get to say anything they want now, without having to worry about facts.

[kareemachan]

10:34 AM on 03/16/2010

Um, it's an ad....

[JohnStuartMill]

10:24 AM on 03/17/2010

Did you even read my post?

[JohnIII]

09:58 AM on 03/16/2010

Good thing we'll be mandated to buy their product.