Tuesday, August 18, 2009

More Email Obfuscation from Health Insurance Lobbyists

Because I think that the healthcare lobbyists have a pretty good database and email address list, I don’t receive any of those crazy or misleading emails from them.

Not anymore anyway.

But someone I know still does. An Independent who voted for Obama last year.

I asked her if she would forward these things to me and she agreed.

This is what she received the other day from these desperate, desperate people:

YESTERDAY ON "ABC-TV" (BETTER KNOWN AS THE ALL BARRACK [sic] CHANNEL) DURING THE "NETWORK SPECIAL ON HEALTH CARE".... OBAMA WAS ASKED A HARD QUESTION FOR ONE OF THE FIRST TIMES:”

“"MR. PRESIDENT WILL YOU AND YOUR FAMILY GIVE UP YOUR CURRENT HEALTH CARE PROGRAM AND JOIN THE NEW 'UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE PROGRAM' THAT THE REST OF US WILL BE ON ????"...... (BET YOU ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER)...

“THERE WAS A STONEY [sic] SILENCE AS OBAMA IGNORED THE QUESTION AND CHOSE NOT TO ANSWER IT !!!....”

“IN ADDITION, A NUMBER OF SENATORS WERE ASKED T HE SAME QUESTION AND THERE [sic] RESPONSE WAS...'WE WILL THINK ABOUT IT.’”

“AND THEY DID. IT WAS ANNOUNCED TODAY ON THE NEWS THAT THE "KENNEDY HEALTH CARE BILL" WAS WRITTEN INTO THE NEW HEALTH CARE REFORM INITIATIVE ENSURING THAT CONGRESS WILL BE 100%EXEMPT !”

SO, THIS GREAT NEW HEALTH CARE PLAN THAT IS GOOD FOR YOU AND I... IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR OBAMA, HIS FAMILY OR CONGRESS...?? WE (THE AMERICAN PUBLIC) NEED TO STOP THIS PROPOSED DEBACLE ASAP !!!!... THIS IS TOTALLY WRONG !!!!!”

“PERSONALLY, I CAN ONLY ACCEPT A UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE OVERHAUL THAT EXTENDS TO EVERYONE... NOT JUST US LOWLY CITIZENS... WHILE THE WASHINGTON "ELITE" KEEP RIGHT ON WITH THEIR GOLD-PLATED HEALTH CARE COVERAGES.”

“IF YOU AGREE PLEASE PASS THIS O N ....IF NOT PLAN TO SUFFER WITH THE OBAMA HEALTH CARE PLAN .....FOR FREE.... WHILE OUR SELF-SERVING POLITICIANS MAKE SURE THAT THEY TAKE CARE OF THEIR BUTTS AT OUR EXPENSE.

All caps emphasis is theirs, not mine.

Now to be clear, this claim, that Members of Congress and Barack Obama are “exempt” from the Kennedy plan is utter obfuscation. Nothing of the kind appears in the bill. What does appear (on page 113 and 114 of the bill found here) is a list of the groups who are not allowed to participate in the program. Not allowed because they are already covered in other federal health care plans. This includes Members of Congress if they are enrolled in the “Federal employees health benefits program under chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code.”

And all of the hundreds of thousands of other federal employees who are enrolled in that program.

Others who cannot participate in the Kennedy plan are those enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid.

And those enrolled in Tricare – the plan that covers our soldiers and their families.

Or those who already have employer-sponsored health coverage.

But you see, the email fails to mention any of that. It serves only to confuse and enrage the witless of us out there.

The email also fails to mention the reason for the Kennedy bill in the first place. It fails to mention the “Sense” section found at the bottom of page 39 of the bill:

(b) SENSE OF THE SENATE.—It is the sense of the Senate that Congress should establish a means for all Americans to enjoy affordable choices in health benefit plans, in the same manner that Members of Congress have such choices through the Federal employees health benefits program.

Now the email address that the White House set up for us to forward these emails to them has been taken down. Instead they direct you to go to their Reality Check website. There you can scroll down and leave a message on what myths you think they should address in the future.

From personal experience acquired today, it’s pretty easy to do, as it turns out.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for debunking... these e-mails can be VERY disturbing and misleading to those of us who do not know how to investigate!

Anonymous said...

Not mis-information.

The conservatives by no means have a monopoly on misinformation.

Hal said...

But they seem to have a temporary majority, given the myriad of online groups that prey on the fears of Americans.

Doubt that, and all you have to do is ask which groups stand to lose the most in health care reform, and who has most to gain.

It isn't even close, Anon.

Gimme a break.

Anonymous said...

Have you checked to see how much some key Dems get from the health care and insurance lobby?
Are they saying one thing and really doing anohter?

Coach said...

Yes, e-mails of this type are biased, only partially true if at all, and designed to fan the flames of dissent. The conservatives are fairly new at this. They learned that tactic from the left during the George W. Bush administration.

And yes, these are desperate, desperate people. They are afraid of the rapid growth of the government and the debt. They are afraid that the good parts of our health care system will be compromised in a massive bill. They are afraid of having bureaucrats design a medical delivery system that might be as inept and inefficient as most government agencies.

They are desperate because their side has no power at the moment in Washington. Their only recourse is sustained dissent.

I believe it was the left who, just a few years ago, maintained that dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

If people on the left are going to dish out misinformation when the balance of power swings to the right, they are going to get it right back at them when their politicians are at the helm. Sorry.

Hal said...

Coach, you need a history lesson. The left did not invent obfuscation of the facts. That remains the province of the neoconservative radical right. Remember how Al Gore "invented the internet?" He didn't and never claimed that he did. He did sponsor legislation that made DarpaNet possible.

Remember how Al Gore was ridiculed when he was said to have claimed that the main characters in the movie "Love Story" were based on himself and Tipper? That was a misquotation of the author, Eric Segal. But Al Gore paid the price.

Remember the old saw that Republicans are true Christians and Democrats are atheistic humanists? If you still believe that then you haven't shaken the flak that was and remains the Republican spin machine. Still alive and well.

You don't like it that your voice doesn't count in DC anymore? This is how it felt to be a Democrat from 1994 until 2008.