Ignored by All Media: Major Health Care Provider Organizations Testify in Support of House Bill

The most important meeting held thus far on health care reform was totally ignored by the media. I mean totally. Even Rachel, Olbermann and Ed.

The meeting was the most important because the witnesses are the health care providers, representing those who actually deliver health care to patients.

Imagine, this is America, and people who actually know what they are talking about were asked to inform policy decisions!

The American Medical Association. The American Nurses Association. The American Hospital Association. The AARP representing all who consume socialist medicine, the Medicare population. Only that other socialist medicine group, the Veterans Administration, was not present.

They all testified before the House Democratic Steering & Policy Committee. It was televised on CSPAN.

They were asked relevant and intelligent questions by House members concerning the specifics of health care reform. Amazingly, they responded to the questions with cogent, concrete answers.

They were addressing HR 3200, the bill portrayed by the 'news-as-Jerry Springer' outlets as the government "taking over" health care... and yet, and yet, they all supported it. The providers all support it. And, the AARP, there to defend Medicare, where some of the savings are to come from, also supported it.

Certainly, there were comments about the bill's implications, that is why they were testifying. For example, the AMA pointed out that the Congress froze intern/residency positions in 1997; thus, while medical schools could -- and are -- expanding to produce more people with medical degrees, the critical part of physicians' training, when they learn patient care, is during internships and residencies that need to be expanded as well. That's a good, and very important point. [What party controlled Congress in 1997, hmmm?].

The American Nursing Association pointed out that there were insufficient numbers of Nursing faculty to train more nurses. That's another good, and very important point because HR 3200 has money to train more nurses, but the authors apparently did not realize the need for more people to teach nursing. [No one suggested that nursing faculty were too busy serving on death panels to attend to teaching].

I have been one of the most severe and persistent critics of Democrats' assuming that correct policies sell themselves, and I do not suggest that digging into these details would help the cause.

But, people still trust their physicians and nurses. Imagine, therefore, a YouTube and TV ad, with the table of witnesses as they appeared identified by profession and organization -- with cutaways to nurses, doctors, hospitals and elderly patients -- using a key sound bite from each witness indicating support... something like that, done by a pro, could be very effective because the witness table and the House panel come across as genuine, and compare well to all the contrived, actor-laden pieces.

And, it might do the media well -- from the major evening and morning news, to the Ed/Olbermann/Rachel cable groups -- to devote more than one segment, on more than one night, to the reality that the major health care providers and established patient organizations support the President's health care reform.

If they need something startling and frightening and outrageous to enliven the presentation, try this: in 1999 health care costs were 8% of the median family's income, today they are 18% and, if nothing is done, will be 35% in less than a decade.

Now, that's something to scream about.

Comments

[rad21]

I saw on C-span yesterday (September 17th) the representatives of health insurance companies being questioned by congressman Dennis Kucinich's committee. I watched much of it. Perhaps I missed, but the question I would like to have heard an answer to is: Why does the per-capita healthcare cost in the USA twice what it cost in other western countries?

[sviolette]

It looks like the huffpost readers are ignoring it too.

[wildedge]

It is the function of media to bury information not to disseminate it; to cauterize real dissent (always progressive, the righties are spiritual slaves), not inform it. That most health care workers support public option or single payer reform comes as no surprise to anyone who has worked there, there is so much lost because there's no funding for the needed tests or procedures, patients are rarely treated until their conditions are in later stages - sometimes too late.
The health insurance companies don't care; the media doesn't care. the Republicans don't care; the wilfully ignorant right wingers are well-trained not to care.
It is hard to know why we progressives keep fighting for the right of the people who don't know and don't don't care - except that there are as yet unborn millions who need us now if they are ever to live in a better world han where we live now.

[mom of three]

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this. I had no idea and will share this with everyone that I know.

[wonketteRAWKS]

Healthcare reform is needed, but we have no clue as to what "reform" means as there have been so many mixed messages. Unfortunately, what we want and what we'll get will more than likely differ. I am hoping that true reform comes through and not just some bill being used as a political victory.

That being said, why wasn't there any coverage of this hearing? From what I've heard and read, most news stories have been pro-reform and crazy townhall people. It seems only logiical that this would have been covered.

[dayala]

Paul

I watched some of it on CSPAN last night and listened to the part where one Senator was asking each of them what is the percentage of claims they reject, it was staggering the amount of claims some of them said they process annually, anywhere between 350 - 470 million claims.

this should have been televised on CNN or MSNBC....d­efinitely important, factual, relevant information for anyone who truly wants to learn and understand how the health care insurance companies operate.

[GunnyJ]

Thank for this vital information, I will pass this along....

[Ken114]

Iwatched as well if ever any proof for health reform was needed it was right there, but of course too much truth is a dangerous thing you know.

[sytgrl]

Thank you so much for this article! I watched the hearings as well, and they were very compelling, and cut through a lot of the hype that's been happening in the media. I think that people who are believing that the "public option is dead" would do well to watch it. The panelists slapped down the alternatives, such as the trigger and the co-ops. They all stood by the public option.

[bilmardre]

The American Medical Association is not paying the media. The insurance companies are.

[faceinthecrowd]

The powers that be may not really want this information to get out.

Maybe because once people realize what this means, they'll turn sour to the whole idea.

What 'this' means: Health care providers, and all their vendors, will never want for money again...ev­er.

A never ending demand (for care) on a limited supply (providers, supplies), and all payments guaranteed by Uncle Sam? It's the perfect business model.

Huh...no room for corruption there...ne­ver happen in a ba-jillion years. Just look at medicare..­.oh wait...don­'t.

[bilmardre]

Yea, look over there at medicare, don't pay any attention to those little insurance companies fleecing you.

[wanda665]

Do you think there was no mention of the hearings by other media because of who owns the stations?

[HeatherTahoma]

Wouldn't it be interesting if the media outlets actually presented the facts as they happen? You might be able to change the voting statistics overnight! It is so difficult to become fully informed in this society. Everyone media outlet is biased in some way, and even looking at many different sources can't guarantee you get all the information. So every vote cast is one of an opinion based on an opinion of a media outlet based on an opinion of a politician based on what happened!

[Jezreel]

This is great news even though it was missed by Ed, KO and Rachael. Thanks for sharing Dr. Abrams. Let's hope their testimonies will indeed impact the final Bill.

[Marcospinelli]

Why's Obama giving speeches? There is no healthcare plan to sell.

And what happened to Obama taking questions at these townhalls?

The speech seems merely a way for Obama to try to sell himself by telling a cute story (that same old "Fired up, ready to go" story again). What's the point of this? There is no plan that's "ready to go"; nothing to get "fired up" about. Is Obama the intermission act that's supposed to keep us from ripping up the seats?

Obama's given this same speech, televised now for the fifth time, without taking any questions from the crowd, much less those "hard questions". It's one thing for Obama not to take questions from rightwing fringe groups, but why isn't he taking questions from Democratic voters? Or university students? Come to think of it, why was he giving that speech at a university in the White House's backyard? To use the students at the University of Maryland as a backdrop for his rally, no different than Bush using the troops on the USS Abraham Lincoln for his "Mission Accomplished" photo-op?

Why won't Obama face legitimate questions from journalists on the left and answer seering questions? I'd like to see Obama and other Democrats in office face a panel with Amy Goodman, Laura Flanders, Matt Taibbi, Ezra Klein, Jeremy Scahill, Rachel Maddow, Thom Hartmann, Glen Greenwald, Jane Hamsher, and a few others.