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.