On a Lighter Note

A little health care humor from The Onion:

20 Million Americans Without Health Care Attend Painful, Labored March On Washington

WASHINGTON—With Congress once again turning its attention to health care reform, millions of uninsured Americans made their hoarse and sickly voices heard Monday when they left their hospital beds, assisted living facilities, and piles of rejected medical claims behind to march extremely slowly on Capitol Hill. "The time for universal health care is now," limping demonstrator Vicki Dowbenko said to the crowd as it stopped to catch its breath 500 feet into the three-mile march. "We will not stand by as owwww, unggghh." Congressional leaders have reportedly agreed to meet with rally organizers as soon as a wheelchair ramp large enough to accommodate them all is built in the Capitol.

Letter to the Senators

President Obama sent a letter to Senators Kennedy and Baucus today reaffirming his strong support for giving everyone the choice of a public health insurance plan (emphasis mine):

The plans you are discussing embody my core belief that Americans should have better choices for health insurance, building on the principle that if they like the coverage they have now, they can keep it, while seeing their costs lowered as our reforms take hold. But for those who don't have such options, I agree that we should create a health insurance exchange -- a market where Americans can one-stop shop for a health care plan, compare benefits and prices, and choose the plan that's best for them, in the same way that Members of Congress and their families can. None of these plans should deny coverage on the basis of a preexisting condition, and all of these plans should include an affordable basic benefit package that includes prevention, and protection against catastrophic costs. I strongly believe that Americans should have the choice of a public health insurance option operating alongside private plans. This will give them a better range of choices, make the health care market more competitive, and keep insurance companies honest.

Here's the HCAN response to the letter:

“We are thrilled to see President Obama’s strong, unambiguous commitment to reform that includes the choice of keeping private health insurance or joining a new public health insurance option. The choice of a new public health insurance plan is the only way to control costs, guarantee coverage, ensure quality and transparency, and set a benchmark by which patients will know whether their private health insurance is truly giving them what they’re paying for.

There is tremendous unity among President Obama, key committee leadership in both the House and the Senate, the broad coalition represented by Health Care for America Now, and the American people for reform based on the choice of private or public health insurance plans. It is now clearer than ever that this choice will be a fundamental part of the reform sent to the President’s desk this year.

Some Members of Congress have discussed the possibility of creating a public health insurance plan “trigger,” suggesting the public health insurance option can wait. It cannot. The choice of a public health insurance plan must be part of comprehensive reform from the very beginning.”

Laura at HuffPo just posted a write about progressives forcing Obama's hand. I disagree wholeheartedly with the premise of the article, but she does spend some time talking about the ridiculous public health insurance plan "trigger" proposal, the "trigger" in Medicare Part D, and why the latter is an excellent argument against the former. (She quotes me too, but that's besides the point):

Simply including the words "public option" may not be enough. One alleged compromise put forth by Republicans and some centrist Democrats to scuttle a public plan option, is the notion of a trigger that would mandate its implementation only if the private market fails to meet a certain set of criteria. This model would resemble the Medicare Part D option, which conservatives tout as evidence that there is no need for a public option because the trigger for Medicare Part D has yet to be pulled. However, upon closer inspection, the patients themselves have no control over the criteria that would lead to pulling the trigger if their needs are not met, ensuring that the option of a public plan was never really a viable one, say some health care experts.

"The trigger [under Medicare Part D] would come into play in any county where there weren't at least two private drug plans, but that has never come close to happening. It has nothing to do with containing costs or guaranteeing quality or access or anything that works for patients and consumers," said Jacki Schechner of Healthcare for America NOW.

Guess Who Guessed Right

Yup. Glenn Beck spent about six minutes with some boob named Ryan Ellis who fabricated information about HCAN, its goals, its plans, its intentions, its membership, etc. Really, there was nothing in the segment that even remotely resembled the truth. It's frightening that people watch this crap and assume it's real news.

Anyway, I have some news for Ryan Ellis. Health Care for America Now supports letting you keep the current insurance you have now or joining a new public health insurance option if you should so choose. The key here: choice. The choice is right there in our principles - the principles members sign to be a part of the campaign.

It wouldn't have hurt for Ellis or Beck or some producer on the circus Beck passes off as news to do a little research before using the airwaves to attack a campaign that could not be more transparent about why it exists.

Oh, and if Ellis is so worried that the government wants to tell him what to eat for breakfast, I'll save him the trouble of having to wait for that day and make the obvious suggestion: Less bacon and eggs, Ryan. More fruit and yogurt. It'll make you slimmer for TV and possibly less inclined to want to lie your ass off.

Must Be TV

I just started getting angry emails again. If I had to guess, I'd say that means someone mentioned HCAN on Fox this afternoon.

It astounds me how worked up people get over our trying to make their health care better. We're aiming to get the insurance companies to play fair, be transparent, give people the care they pay for, and stop hiking up premiums for no reason. And with 94% of the US considered "highly concentrated," we're trying to inject a little true competition into the health insurance marketplace.

You know, all really bad, icky, scary, dangerous for America things.

Please, people. Take a moment. What you think you should hate because the man in the TV says so may actually be good for you.

image by Brad Fitzpatrick

Quotes Can Be Habit-Forming

Politico this morning:

“We know that the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance industry and conservative opponents to reform have huge piggy banks filled with money they plan to use to counter real health care reform, and we plan to fight back and fight for what we want,” said Jacki Schechner, a spokeswoman for Health Care for America Now, a coalition pushing for the public plan.

Media Triple Play

I did Jeff Santos' radio show again Wednesday morning. The podcast is here. My antics start about 35 minutes in. You can slide the marker approximately halfway through and then guesstimate from there.

In other non-me news, Chris draws attention to the campaign to get Rick Scott's fear-mongering infomercial off NBC:

Progressive health care reform groups demanded on Thursday that Washington’s NBC television affiliate refuse to air a 30-minute infomercial funded by a conservative group opposed to creating a public insurance plan.

The Service Employees International Union sent a letter to NBC4, arguing that the station has a responsibility to pull the documentary-style commercial paid for by Conservatives for Patients’ Rights. The ad, set to run Sunday after “Meet the Press,” “will be false, deceitful, and a distortion,” the union’s attorney wrote in the letter.

The SEIU has not seen the ad, but is drawing the conclusion from CPR’s record of running “demonstrably false” ads. The station has the duty to protect the public from misleading advertising, the letter argues.

If the ad is aired and does contain falsehoods, CPR could face a fine from the Federal Communications Commission, said Levana Layendecker, the online campaigns director for Health Care for America Now, a coalition pushing to create a public insurance plan.

The coalition, Democracy for America and the SEIU e-mailed their supporters, asking them to sign on to another letter that urges NBC and “Meet the Press” to refuse to air the infomercial. The groups plan to send another e-mail Friday to Washington-area supporters, rallying them to call the station with the same message.

Layendecker said the commercial would demean the venerable public-affairs show’s brand. At the very least, the station should run a crawler under the ad, indicating that the program is a paid advertisement and not endorsed by NBC, she said.

And Think Progress has a new video up called "Who is Rick Scott?" It draws from his past at the center of the Columbia/HCA hospital fraud scandal in the late 90s. Take a look:

Your Ad Here

In my former life as a TV peep, ratings were king. Not for me. I didn't care. But for the men and women (and they were mostly men) above my pay grade. Ratings are truly all TV executives care about. It's why the news covers what it covers. The networks chase each other to get the most viewership because more viewers means more advertising dollars. And within that frame, the coveted demographic is 25-54 yr olds. They're the ones who spend the most money.

Take a look at what the spenders are watching. The numbers (courtesy of mediabistro) are for Tuesday the 26th:



Speaking of advertising, and this JUST happened once again so forgive me for venting, but when our website says we don't respond to solicitations for advertising...we don't. Don't call me and say, "I know you say you don't respond to solicitations, but..." There is no but. The note is not a formality. I had it put there to stop you from bugging me. It could not be more clear. You're not the one exception, and thinking you are will get you the full wrath of my frustration. You've been warned.

UPDATE: I just got a second advertising solicitation in the time it's taken me to finalize this post. This one was sneaky. The business guy tried to frame a meeting around a reporter's faux editorial interest. Really shady. Also, totally ineffective. I'm still not interested, and it's still not going to happen.