Here we go...BCBS trying to kill public health care option

[DrToast]

One week after the nation's health insurance lobby pledged to President Obama to do what it can to constrain rising health costs, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is putting the finishing touches on a public message campaign aimed at killing a key plank in Obama's reform platform.

As part of what it calls an "informational website," the company has hired an outside PR company to make a series of videos sounding the alarm about a government-sponsored health insurance option, known as the public plan. Obama has consistently maintained that a government-run plan, absent high-paid executives and the need for profits, could be a more affordable option for Americans who have trouble purchasing private insurance. The industry argues that creating a public insurance program will undermine the marketplace and eventually lead to a single-payer style system.

In three 30-second videos, the insurer paints a picture of a future system in which patients wait months for appointments and can't choose their own doctors, according to storyboards of the videos obtained by the Washington Post.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/health-care-reform/2009/05/by_ceci_connolly_one_week.html?hpid=news-col-blog

:grr: :nuke: :grr:

[Ilsa]

1. Wow. Imagine people choosing not to enrich stockholders and CEOs.

BCBS certaily would love to take that option away. Looks to me like they just proved the case for single payer.

[Telly Savalas]

2. Democracy has limited effectiveness when the populace is easily swayed by 30 second ads.

[DrToast]

21. We just need better 30 second ads.

[dflprincess]

3. I just love these outfits with their "in and out of network" crap

telling people they won't be able to choose their doctors. Maybe if they spend enough on this they'll have to cut down on their political bribes and that might wake up Congress and Obama about letting these crooks continue to rob us.

[DrToast]

4. Seriously, I want Obama to fight over this

I'd rather see Obama push a good plan and risk losing than to compromise on a watered down plan just so he can get it through.

[vaberella]

8. Exactly...that's why we need to make sure the public option is in tip top shape.

Send this article to the White House by the way.

[stillcool]

9. would be nice if the people..

that represented us had some input on the votes they cast, wouldn't it? I suppose Obama is the only one that can make a request.

[asphalt.jungle]

5. so the big insurance companies understand this

"The industry argues that creating a public insurance program will undermine the marketplace and eventually lead to a single-payer style system."

too bad some who should be joining the fight only want to do so if it's single payer right now.

[HopeOverFear]

15. Exactly. Getting a public option is gonna be hard enough

[uponit7771]

16. +! They will fight tooth and nail against public option, there needs to be a leader on the issue

...that's not Obama

[babylonsister]

6. OK, they can try to kill it. They won't be able to if enough people complain. nt

[vaberella]

7. Of course. I'm not about to let that happen.

We need the public option and for it to be at it's best. I'm going to work my ass against this.

[ejpoeta]

10. maybe there should be a commercial showing the system now...

people wait to see a doctor in a crowded office, or worse in the ER... then they get a bill saying the insurance company isn't going to cover it... show people who HAVE insurance who are now deep in debt because they THOUGHT they had good insurance. i paid my insurance... i thought it would be there for me... then show someone talking about how the insurance companies like the system just the way it is and how they would do anything to keep it from changing.... because for A LOT of folks, the system isn't working.

[uponit7771]

17. Your commercial would be too effective by communicating a lot in with little words so dems

...would never adopt it or anything like it to counter these machines.

[uponit7771]

18. Send this to move on or your senator, at least you can say you tried

[subterranean]

20. That sounds like a description of SICKO. n/t

[safeinOhio]

11. I have BC/BS

and I can't pick my own doctor. I have to pick one with-in their plan. I even have to go to a hospital they chose. I can't go to emergency with out pre approval or I get billed for it. Then I get to have some high school grad tell my doctor what is an appropriate treatment. Then they fricking deny my claim anyway.

We should run public message campaign about BC/BS.

[IndianaGreen]

12. BCBS also opposed Medicare in the 1960s

They haven't changed their stripes. I don't know why someone would welcome these bastards to the table.

[Bread and Circus]

13. BCBS is right. A public health plan is the slippery slope to single payer that we NEED

:)

Nah nah na na...hey hey hey...good bye (BCBS)! Adios...

See ya...hate ta be ya.

[HopeOverFear]

14. Obama HAD to know the insurance companies were bullshitting him

when he made take that "pledge", he just had to...please fight this, Mr. President. Please.

[cornermouse]

19. Mopping up action.

They already got single payer knocked out of the picture before he ever reached office. What they're doing now is nothing more than mopping up action to keep the status quo intact.

[holiday]

22. they could make ads

about all the stuff bcbs won't allow their subscribers to have. It's the insurance I have. They wouldn't cover a hospital breast pump for my baby born at 24 weeks even though we had a note from the doctor that it was essential for the baby. My doctor prescribes me meds that she knows is best for me and when I go to get them filled bcbs won't cover them and I instead I end up on different meds. I have so many horror stories with that insurance company.