At first, progressives mistook it for a sign of surrender. Harry and Louise were back, but this time, they were speaking out in support of the president's plans for health care reform. In the 90s, the pleasant middle-aged couple were paraded onto national television as part of a larger plan to derail President Clinton's health care overhaul. They returned this year in a $4 million TV campaign supporting reform, sponsored by Families USA and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
But this was actually a bad sign. The reason the pharmaceutical industry and private health care are throwing their weight behind Obama's plan is because -- quite simply -- the plan is great for business. The Harry and Louise II succor is the exact same breed of encouragement offered by Big Pharma in the form of $150 million on television commercials supporting Obama's health care overhaul that will begin over the August Congressional recess. Of course, this is in addition to the millions of dollars in advertising campaigns through front groups like Healthy Economies Now and Families USA, and the $1 million on similar advertisements under its own name.
Big Pharma is willing to spill this kind of cash because they know Obama's reform will pay out big time for them in the end, primarily because Obama has backpeddled on his promise to allow the government to negotiate Medicare drug prices.
During their appearances on Bill Moyer's Journal, Trudy Lieberman, director of the health and medical reporting program at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and Marcia Angell, senior lecturer in social medicine at Harvard Medical School and former editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, discussed why these kinds of industry-sponsored ads, specifically Harry and Louise II, should act as red flags to the American people. Below is an excerpt from the show's transcript (emphasis mine).
BILL MOYERS: Wouldn't that make you think that Big Pharma is supporting health care reform?
TRUDY LIEBERMAN: That's exactly--MARCIA ANGELL: Yes, yes.
TRUDY LIEBERMAN: That's what they're supposed to be--
BILL MOYERS: But on their terms, right?
MARCIA ANGELL: On their terms. Exactly. Exactly.
TRUDY LIEBERMAN: This is what those ads are supposed to do. They're supposed to make the ordinary person believe that they're good guys this time around.
BILL MOYERS: And on their terms means what for them?
MARCIA ANGELL: Well, they can charge whatever they want. That there will be no bargaining. That--
TRUDY LIEBERMAN: Medicare.
MARCIA ANGELL: That Medicare Part D will not bargain for lower prices. There'll be no formularies. You know, even this thing about the pharmaceutical industry is going to kick in $80 billion over ten--
BILL MOYERS: Have we heard--
MARCIA ANGELL: --years. That the President mentioned in the press conference.
TRUDY LIEBERMAN: Only if health care passes. So.
MARCIA ANGELL: First this is $8 billion a year for the pharmaceutical industry. This is chump change. And second, it's only for brand-name drugs. So, in a sense, it's a subsidy for the most expensive drugs.
BILL MOYERS: Do you believe the health care industry when it tells President Obama that "we will voluntarily cut costs"?
MARCIA ANGELL: No. I mean, these are investor owned businesses. If they behave like charities, heads would roll in the executive suites. They are there to maximize profits. And that's exactly what they do.
TRUDY LIEBERMAN: What's happened now is that the industries have gotten pretty much what they want out of the bills that are going forward. And so, they need to build public support. They need to make everybody in the public realize that they actually are wearing white hats in this one. But behind the scenes, they are lobbying ferociously against the public plan, against cuts in doctors fees, against all kinds of things that they don't want. And for that they're using a different sort of lobbying tactic. All of these are communications or lobbying strategies that they know how to do and they are very excellent at doing them.
MARCIA ANGELL: It's clear that they can turn it to their advantage.
TRUDY LIEBERMAN: Right.
MARCIA ANGELL: That nobody is really trying to break their-- except the single payer people -- their death grip on the system. And here you have hundreds of for profit insurance companies that maximize their income by denying care to the people who need it most. And that's the insurance system. That's how we pay for health care. But you also have to look at how we deliver health care. And we deliver that, primarily or largely, in for-profit facilities -- businesses, hospitals -- whose interest is in delivering only profitable care. So, we have a system that's through and through, in both the payment system and the delivery system, is oriented toward profits. Neither the Senate nor the House is doing anything to change that.
I was recently contacted by a reader who tried to convince me that this kind of compromise between Big Pharma, Big Health, and President Obama was a good thing. "I just want everyone to be happy," the reader declared. It's a sweet thought, but unrealistic. The American people, Big Pharma, and Big Health can't all win. If Big Pharma is happy, chances are the American people will pay the price, and the same rule applies if the private health care industry is tickled pink by Obama's plans for reform.
President Obama was elected by the American people because he portrayed himself as a reformer. Back in 2008, he used fiery rhetoric chastising the "stranglehold" of the big drug companies. If that same Obama fought for universal health care and regulated the insane and inhumane price-gouging practices of Big Pharma, the American people would win.
Unfortunately, in Obama's new health care reform plans, the American people will lose.
Cross-posted from Allison Kilkenny's blog. Also available on Facebook and Twitter.
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Sadly, I was probably the only person in the country who felt that way. But then again, Edwards was more than happy to go Gary Hart while on the campaign trail, and a primary victory for him would have ended the same way.
And Hillary spent a whole lot of time courting Republicans, so that would have likely ended up the same way as it currently is.
What do:
Rush Limbaugh
Barack Obama
Newt Gingrich
Nancy Pelosi
PhRMA
Families USA
America’s Health Insurance Plans
AARP
Harry Reid
Mitch McConnell
and Fox News
have in common?
They are all freaked out by single payer.
They have all bought the corporate line:
The market has a central place in health insurance.
In contrast, the majority of doctors.
The majority of nurses.
And the majority of the American people favor single payer.
They all agree — the market has no place in health insurance.
Single payer would eliminate the 1,300 private payers (insurance companies).
And replace them with one public single payer.
As Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine puts it:
Single payer is the only option that will control costs and cover everyone.
The right wing is seeking to defeat Obamacare primarily because they irrationally fear creeping socialism.
We seek to defeat Obamacare because it’s a bailout of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.
And it won’t deliver universal health care to the American people.
Time to scrap Obamacare.
And start from scratch.
This is too sophisticated an issue for the average voter to understand. The Presidents Blue dogs have dumped single payer and are redistributing campaign donations from republicans to democrats, that's the only change likely to result from this reform.
It's a sham and a farce IMO
Even with a public option for insurance, we will continue to have the same privatized health care delivery we have now. We need those providers on board. They should be happy to get all the new business with new patients.
And as far as the pharmaceutical companies are concerned, with a lot of new customers, they can drive greater economies of scale. This explains why they can drop prices on their products -- higher volume will mean they will ultimately _make money_ on reform.
In our zeal to deal with these problems and even push for a robust public option, we shouldn't act like we're anti-business to do it. It should be about target the scamming behavior of private health insurance companies.
simple as that.
So, that being agreed, how can any reform done by the corrupted co-pted politicians be of substance and or have integrity? This includes the President that is the biggest single recipient of Health Insurance companies support in 2008.
First address the corruption outlaw the lobbyists and make election reform, term limits the first agenda, then perhaps Americans could be more confident of the integrity of any reform legislation created by the legislature.
This is typical of Chicago style democrats that are on the take, calling for reform of the system that enables their own corruption. the hypocrites are "clearing out the temples"
Yeah right, and the Kennedy assassination wasn't a conspiracy, right?
However, the majority of people in the U.S. want someone else to fix their problems. They don't want to voice and fight for their human health rights.
I predict a future where more and more americans will immigrate to other countries that offer Human Services for its' citizens.
Medical Tourism is also on the rise.
I for one will not support a corrupt medical system that we have in the U.S.
It's full of thieves and criminals.Their only concern is greed over good.
These are the workers at the lower end of the wage scale, not the idle poor who have the best insurance already. It will be hard to organize them when they most likely are working their second job on Saturday/Sunday.
If auto companies win, car buyers must lose.
If airlines win, passengers must lose
If cell phone companies win, callers must lose
If Colleges and Universities win, students must lose.
Getting rid of the practices that cause people to hate and fear their insurance companies isn't the same thing as causing the insurance companies to 'lose'. When it boils right down to it the 45 million uninsured in America are 45 million potential new customers. And when Americans start not avoiding their doctors because of being worried about being denied coverage or being labeled as having an undesirable medical history there will be more prescriptions written for things like blood pressure and cholesterol lowering drugs.
The market works better in some applications than in others.
Not everyone needs a cell phone--or the fanciest cell phone.
Not everyone needs a car--or the fanciest car.
But EVERYONE needs basic, decent health care. If you restrict health care on the ability to pay, as the U.S. system does, you are sentencing people to suffering and death. Some 20,000 people die in this country every year because they cannot afford medical treatment--that's the equivalent of three 9/11s every year.
Medical care should be classified as a basic physical protection of the citizenry, like police and fire protection, as it is treated in every other civilized, industrialized country. They all guarantee police, fire, AND health protection to all citizens. The U.S. guarantees police and fire protection but consigns health care to the cruel whims of the marketplace, with its brutal price rationaing, price gouging, and vastly wasteful, sprawling billing bureaucracies and profit skimming, which waste some $400 billion per year.
How would you feel if your house were burning down and the fireman who showed up asked for a hundred-dollar copay before he would turn on the hose? And what if you didn't have it on hand? Would he be justified in letting your house burn to ashes? Are human lives less important than houses?
Think it over.
This is Health Insurance Reform, nothing to do with Healthcare.
Every man, woman, and child with a social security number will be mandated to BUY health insurance.
There will be loopholes/exceptions to the rules. Those earning at or below poverty wages will get Free Health Insurance. Overall premiums will go down, so the wealthy who already buy insurance will benefit.
The middle class will get squeezed because they will have to BUY their own insurance.
So, unless you demonstrate on your taxes that you earn below poverty wages, you will have to buy health insurance. More cash businesses and jobs will proliferate and more people will hide their incomes from the tax man.
Faulty logic abounds.
The middle class buys their insurance now, whether privately or through their employer. How would they not benefit from the same cost reductions that you claimed the rich would enjoy? Is there a bit of reverse class envy going on here?
Every insurance policy includes a hidden cost of $900 pr year to compensate for the unpaid medical bills of the uninsured. Do you think that these bills just go away? Each provider has adjusted their fees to make up the hit of serving the uninsured who have no hope of paying even a minor medical bill under today's costs.
After all consider these FACTs:
1. Obama/Dems ran on the promise of brining about Universal Health Care, something that EVERY European nation, Canada, every developed nation has, but once in the office Obama/Dems are having a bi-partisan group to study the health care crisis
in US and suggest improvements to the current system, to make it more affordable!
Are you kidding us?
Universal Health Care is something that is very well known, as it has been practiced in all developed nations of the World for the past 20 to 30 years!
This is not a new thing, this is not a mystery, Universal Health Care has been in PRACTICE for more than 30 years in ALL European countries. To be exact, Universal Health Care as it has ben perfected for many years now in England, Canada, France, etc. etc. means the following:
I) Every citizen gets the same health care, regardless of their income or whether they have a Job or not.
II) Universal Health Care is paid for from the Taxes that people pay.
III) Health care is pretty much operated on a not-for-profit basis.
For sake of lack of space here, U can read full article here:
http://www.anoox.com/blog/real_news.article=33758
And YOU LOSE!
This will truly and completely end America as we know it. Hope no more.
Not sure if I believe but it sure looks like a possibility.
Did it slip by you last month that President Obama was offering an explanation and apology to Red China for the reports that more senior in America were increasing their credit card debt? The President of the US has to report to our creditors on the smallest of economic factors affecting our credit rating to foreign governments? The FED Reserve is a private banking entity controlled by foreign interests.
We are enslaved now, our upside down mortgages ensure our cooperation and adherence to the new credit guidelines. The real estate bubble was created to pull the rug of freedom out from under the masses of Americans that have few options now.