Brutal Mailer From Anti-Reform Group Displays Sick, Languishing Old People
Bring on the mailer wars! Check out this brutal new mailing dropped in Nebraska by an anti-reform right wing group called the 60 Plus Association, which depicts elderly patients as depressed and languishing from lack of attention and care (click to enlarge):
This is kind of a new frontier in the scare campaign targeting old folks: It links the prediction of drastic Medicare cuts to the widely-debunked claim that health care reform will lead to mass government euthanasia of the elderly. The mailer says that “bureaucrats” could prevent you from receiving treaments, even if “you and your doctor insist on them,” and quotes Obama saying:
“Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller.”
Taken out of context, the comment sounds like a callous declaration to a patient that he or she should suck it up and forget about getting needed care. In fact, Obama was actually discussing the difficulties inherent in helping the elderly make good medical decisions.
The mailer comes after the 60 Plus Association, which previously worked to abolish the estate tax, started airing a new ad declaring that the government could deprive members of the Greatest Generation of care if it was “not worth the cost.”
Subtle…
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Is there not some point at which most people will finally say: this is ridiculous? Aren’t most people saner than this?
Please tell me they are.
No one’s scared, no one cares.
That’s nuts.
OT but….McCaskill just asked her audience who had Medicare. Then she asked who wanted to get rid of it. Hardly anyone raised their hands. Priceless. She’s doing a pretty good job of isolating out the people who are trying to disrupt things.
“She’s doing a pretty good job of isolating out the people who are trying to disrupt things.”
O thank you for that -
Oh and Rachael Maddow did a piece on 60plus last night. I guess one of their big fund’ers is pharmaceutical companies. I can’t remember the guys running it.
Rachel Maddow just did a segment on her show exposing the background of this 60 Plus organization. I don’t remember all the details but I distinctly remember one point was that substantially all of this group’s funding comes from pharmaceutical companies. Dirty group.
Clearly the Govt has done a great job running Medicare, let’s put them in charge of more healthcare. Will you pat McCaskill on the back when she decides to test a single payer system on her family first?
I’ll gladly take Medicare coverage, or a single payer system, over my private BCBS any day. Now they need to start asking Senior Citizens how many of them would trade for private health insurance coverage?
Joe, funny you mention that. She just came out against single payer and said it would never pass.
Also Joey, Medicare costs have gone up at a slower rate than private insurance. It appears to be more efficient.
The reform is meant to remove the rest of the inefficiencies by using panels of doctors to come up with suggestions to further reduce costs.
Joe Sixpack – Are you arguing that we should abolish Medicare? If so, say so.
She’s doing a pretty good job of isolating out the people who are trying to disrupt things.
I’m not surprised. My sister lives in Kansas City and while she’s not a big fan of McCaskill she has told me before that McCaskill’s long had the ability to gave as good as she got, as it were. Apparently she’s able to hold her own in a hostile environment.
Sue — trying to get the Rachel Maddow segment. Thanks
Oh look at that – they want people to contact Senator Nelson. Maybe those ads Act Blue is running are having an impact; do they want to scare Senator Nelson back in line? I’m on my way to contribute to Act Blue again. This aggravates me to no end.
These are clearly photos of elderly people suffering under the current for-profit health care industry. But I suppose that little bit was lost on the creators as well as the receivers of this propaganda.
Maddow really took 60Plus apart last night. She has been on a tear this week (and last, I think) on health care and who’s funding the anti-reform groups.
I think Rachel’s segment is here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#32365982
The only people who dis Medicare are those who are too young for it and don’t have parents who are aging and need it.
It saved my entire life. There is no way I could have paid for my parents’ last illnesses.
Medicare is the greatest thing since oxygen, as far as I’m concerned.
Just wait til you get there, those of you too young to still have a clue about taking care of aging parents. You’re in for the time of your life. You don’t know what bills are until you are trying to care for an elderly person.
At her town meeting happening now, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) stopped a critic from asking more questions, telling him he was taking opportunities from other people in what looks like a very large and very packed space. “Do you want to be fair to your fellow patriots and give them a turn?” she asked.
@mike
Joey huh? so should I call you Mikey now? Just stick to facts rather than petty stuff.
No, don’t abolish Medicare, we’re already too deep in it and it currently acts for our govt run healthcare system. I have former relatives that use it for their healthcare and they’re fine. They just walk into a hospital(usually a university hospital) and get the free help they need. I don’t like it, but its there.
Medicare has been better at controlling costs? Mike are you serious. Let me show you how….
2008 Dr visit: $100. Medicare pays $50, doctor eats rest.
2009 Dr visit: $104. Medicare pays $51, doctor eats rest.
Doctor costs up 4%, medicare up 1%
Get it now?
Tena, I am 66 and healthy, but some of us look to Medicare to take care of OURSELVES, too.
“Tena, I am 66 and healthy, but some of us look to Medicare to take care of OURSELVES, too.”
What makes you think I’m not looking forward to the same damn thing?
“I don’t like it, but its there.”
That’s the bottom line, right there. The 30percenters just “don’t like it.” They don’t like society. They don’t like our obligation to each other when we live in a common society.
They are ignorant of who and what we are. We did not evolve as solo hunters like big cats. We either cooperate or we die – that’s the sum total of our evolutionary heritage – that’s really what god is about. We either cooperate with each other or we go extinct. The only advantage we had going in was our brains, which enabled us to come up with language which enabled us to work together to keep from being killed by all the rest of nature, against which we are powerless.
Goddamn it would you people please get some anthropological understanding of your species?
# Joe Sixpack | August 11th, 2009 at 02:40 pm
Clearly the Govt has done a great job running Medicare, let’s put them in charge of more healthcare. Will you pat McCaskill on the back when she decides to test a single payer system on her family first?
………………………..
They can test it on me, and my family first.
You really are a pill. I did not notice you and your ilk using that type of argument when your draft dodging neo-cons were invading Iraq.
You should have been asking Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld to go on the front lines of the invasion, if you feel that is the only way elected leaders should be allowed to enact policy for the country.
I don’t know who funds this group but y’all DO realize that PhRMA SUPPORTS Obama and has agreed to spend $150 MILLION to help pass his healthcare reform? Don’t you? If this group is supported by PhRMA then why does their website have articles like, “Seniors Suffer Under Obama/AARP/PhRMA “Healthcare Reform?”
http://www.60plus.org/healthcare.asp?DocID=517
My friends call me Mikey ever since that ridicules commercial came out 25+ years ago so I rly don’t mind but I get the point.
McCaskill just went after medicare part d and asked where was everyone during that debate when a trillion dollars of spending of taxpayer giveaways to the health industry occurred….*conservatives heads exploded*
Well, I am 48, chronic disease of Rheumatoid Arthritis, not insurable except through an employer sponsored program.If I don’t work full-time, I can’t get benefits.My health will not allow me to work full-time. Lucky for me I am married and can get benefits through my husbands employers plan. But now they are denying my meds claims; my doctor has told me he cannot carry the cost of my meds, he said he carries over six figures of med inventory a month because of denial of claims. Without my meds, my joint damage gets more severe, my fatigue gets worse, and I can work even less. Yeah, I am a little bitter about those with medicare (which I am happy they have) protesting against any chance I have at getting an insurance policy that is not tied to employment.
sbj and PhRMA also agreed to cut off $80 billion in 10 years too.
And sbj, nobody said they are supported by PhRMA specifically. They are though, supported by a pharmaceutical company along with others.
Just like AMA is representative of 100% of doctors PhRMA isn’t representative of ALL insurance companies.
Angela – I’m so sorry.
Rheumatoid Arthritis is a terrible disease. I just hate that for you so much. I don’t blame you for being bitter – you have every reason to be. It’s utterly absurd for those people on Medicare to be out there fighting against anyone else getting what they have.
# Tena | August 11th, 2009 at 03:06 pm
“Tena, I am 66 and healthy, but some of us look to Medicare to take care of OURSELVES, too.”
What makes you think I’m not looking forward to the same damn thing?
?? I didn’t say you weren’t. You just said “Just wait til you get there, those of you too young to still have a clue about taking care of aging parents. You’re in for the time of your life. You don’t know what bills are until you are trying to care for an elderly person.”
I was only pointing out that it’s not just those trying to care for an elderly person (like one’s parents) but some of us deal with taking care of our elderly selves.
It wasn’t a challenge. Why so belligerent?
Thanks Tena – You have no idea how much your understanding and tenderness means to me.
Angela is a perfect example of why our present system doesn’t work. I wish I could offer more than sympathy…..
@liam
Please do me a favor and eliminate your useless and baseless name calling in this setting.
As for your comments on comparing my current arguments to the Iraq invasion and why our military leaders don’t sit on the front lines too….well, we live in a great country where we have a VOLUNTARY military. This healthcare plan is far from voluntary and if you listen to your Dear Leaders plans from 2003 at the AFL CIO meeting he wants us all on an INVOLUNTARY healthcare plan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpAyan1fXCE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Epnhp%2Eorg%2Fnews%2F2008%2Fjune%2Fbarack%5Fobama%5Fon%5Fsing%2Ephp&feature=player_embedded
ouch
@Mike: $80 billion in 10 years is a drop in a bucket!
So tell me, is big pharma the friend now or the enemy? Are they evil, like the insurance cos, or are they good now? Is it okay now for the Dems to take more PAC money from the pharmas than the Repubs? Is it okay now for the Dems to take more PAC money from the HMOs than the Repubs? Are we friends now with the big hospitals that charge outrageous rates because they also cut a backroom deal with the admin? Is it okay now for the most transparent govt ever to cut all of these deals in private – without disclosing the terms to the public like they promised they would?
It’s getting so that you can’t even tell the good guys from the bad guys. Why? Cause the admin is cutting all sorts of deals with the very people Obama has demonized int he past to insure that he gets to pass something. Common sense tells me one thing – pharmaceutical manufacturers and big hospitals aren’t going to cut secret deals with the admin that are bad for their industries. They are going to take a short term hit in return for long term gain, more customers, mandated coverage, and less cost control via Medicare. We are being played same as ever.
@ sbj, You’re a genius sbj. Now it’s time for a link to a music video? Or about a movie quote? Or…it’s only been a couple days since you last told us that you aren’t a Republican but a registered Libertarian. No wait, you changed it to an independent Libertarian. C’mon we need that sense of humor. Boo!
“A man carried a handgun strapped to his leg to a town hall meeting being held by President Obama in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Tuesday. “: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/11/protester-with-gun-found_n_256614.html
I am not the slightest bit sanguine about the president conducting these Town Hall meetings.
The real joke in the piece I linked to? The gun was legal; the carry was legal.
I do despair for America.
@angela
Have you checked with Walmart as they offer Salsalate for many RA sufferers. $10 for a 90 day supply. I have no idea of your situation, just trying to throw up ideas.
“It wasn’t a challenge. Why so belligerent?”
I’m sorry it seemed that way because it wasn’t meant that way. I should have added an emoticon.
PS – by “same damn thing” I meant getting older.
wink wink.
*Excellent* point, Helen Bascom. Spot on.
The bottom line is the grabbing hands of socialism have met their Waterloo at the hands of American taxpayers. Go back to the drawing board and come up with a healthcare reform plan that isn’t a government takeover of 1/6 of the economy. Maybe reform the system ways that helps middle class people who actually pay taxes rather than unions like SEIU and AFSCME.
Or you can use your new spin move and point out that “there is no plan yet.” That’s a great point, I guess. But why weren’t you making it three weeks ago when we had to pass this bill in a hurry?
Oh and, Sixpack guy, how is it that you take another poster to task for “useless and baseless name calling,” and then derogatorily refer to PRESIDENT OBAMA as “Dear Leader”? Clean up your own backyard first, then perhaps you’ll be taken seriously.
sbj, what are you arguing against? I don’t get it.
If Congress and this administration passes something that helps more Americans be covered, lowers Medicare costs and helps the deficit over the long term, keeps cost increases at a minimum by improving competition, then I don’t give a damn if they cut deals with some people.
The alternative to not cutting deals means no reform and expanded coverage which helps nobody in the end except for the medical industry.
The following piece from generally right-leaning pro-corporate WaPo business writer Steven Pearlstein, is devastating for the GOP and its mindlessly braying minions:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/06/AR2009080603854.html
@Benton
a. I’m not ilk, so thats name calling
b. Isn’t HE a leader and I’ve read how many refer to him as our dear, dear leader.
thanks!
@liam
Please do me a favor and eliminate your useless and baseless name calling in this setting.
As for your comments on comparing my current arguments to the Iraq invasion and why our military leaders don’t sit on the front lines too….well, we live in a great country where we have a VOLUNTARY military. This healthcare plan is far from voluntary and if you listen to your Dear Leaders plans from 2003 at the AFL CIO meeting he wants us all on an INVOLUNTARY healthcare plan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpAyan1fXCE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Epnhp%2Eorg%2Fnews%2F2008%2Fjune%2Fbarack%5Fobama%5Fon%5Fsing%2Ephp&feature=player_embedded
ouch
…………………………
Well, to quote your beloved Ronald Regan, “there you go again”
You complain about name calling, and you then turn around and call Our President “Dear Leader”. You teabaggers think that only you deserve respect, while you can go around calling people Nazis, Hitler, Communists, and promoter of Euthanasia decision panels.
You can dish it out, but you can not take it. Get used to it, until your tea bagging half-astroturfer rabble learn to behave in a civil manner, at public forums, then I am going to continue to feed them heavy doses of their own medicine.
All you do is post the talking point lies being put out by the Insurance Industry propaganda agents.
Save the semantics. Joe. Too cute by half. “Dear Leader” is what the NoKos call Kim Il Jong, as we all know.
Benton Frasier – Nice piece you linked to! Thank you for that.
Thanks oddjob.
Thanks for the suggestion Joe six-pack, I need a kind of medicine that is an infusion only given at the doctor’s office, usually monthly, between $1000-$1500 each infusion. It is the only thing that keeps me mobile.
My pleasure, Tena.
Joe and sbj, any feedback from you regarding the Pearlstein piece? Just curious.
@Benton
Notice how he talks of it ONLY costing us 1Trillion over 10 years….? That makes me feel so much better.
By the way, under this plan, how many people will be served using the 100 billion/year number?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31377268/ns/politics-capitol_hill/
Oh about net 16MM people…ooooh, thats a lot of money for so few people.(16MM divided by 300 million people..oh that’s a whopping 5.3%)
Yes, money well spent.
@angela
I hope your situation improves.
Pardon for politicizing your situation, but here is where we need legislators to get out of the way, set the environment for drug companies to do the type research that can help Angela and create more drugs to drive down prices. No govt has come up with a research and development group like the pharma industry has…its too bad we have made them the bad guys. They want to turn a profit, but with R/D and how long they get in market until their drugs go generic just doesn’t pay. We’re encouraging them to not make drugs.
Hang in there Angela!
@mike: “If Congress and this administration passes something that … helps the deficit over the long term, keeps cost increases at a minimum.”
If we could start getting even somewhere close to those two goals then we might have something to talk about! As it now stands the two bills INCREASE long term costs and do virtually nothing to contain costs. How can you contain the cost of prescription drugs when you cut a deal that prevents price negotiation? How can you reduce the price of a hospital stay when the public option won’t use Medicare rates? I am all for health insurance reform – let’s try that! By your own logic you should also be opposed to the two bills so far voted out of cmte.
Enjoying the health care status quo then, are you Joe? Because that’s all I see you proposing: more of the same.
I saw you suggest in a previous post that Americans are not entitled to health care because it’s “not in the Constitution.” If I found your Grandpa lying injured next to the road, Joe, should I pass him by too, or would you prefer I stop and render assistance? After all, I’ve read the Constitution numerous times, and never saw word one about assisting Grandpa Sixpack….
Maybe we as a people might just decide to do some things BECAUSE THEY’RE THE RIGHT, THE DECENT, THE CORRECT, THE MORAL and — dare I say it? — CHRISTIAN things to do! Ya think?
What WOULD Jesus do, Joe? What indeed.
Joe? sbj? The Pearlstein piece? Any comments?
@Benton
If grandpa sixpack is lying in the road pick him up and take him to a hospital, the private or public hospital will treat him for free using medicare and their own money. Plus since he would be a non citizen, even better.
@benton…
I posted them…slow down and look
I see, Joe — I need to “slow down.” Just like health care reform — right?
And nice (failed) dodge on the morality thing.
WHAT *WOULD* JESUS DO, Joe?
Would JESUS provide health care for everyone, or NOT?
@benton: “sbj? The Pearlstein piece? Any comments?”
Who are you and why should I respond?
sbj, who the hell ARE YOU, and why should any of us care about ANYTHING you have to say?
@Joe Sixpack: “No govt has come up with a research and development group like the pharma industry has”
I beg to disagree:
“You occasionally hear that a national health-care system would have a devastating impact on medical innovation — and particularly on drug research. As the thinking goes, the system would save money, but in saving money, it would reduce profits for drug manufacturers, which would reduce the incentives for innovation. Is this worth worrying about?
No, it isn’t. This is a threat that we’ve heard from the pharmaceutical industry for a long time. Virtually every progressive recommendation about health policy for the last 20 or 30 years that the drug industry felt might harm its bottom line has been met by the threat that if they don’t make as much money before, innovation will cease and there will be no cures for new diseases. It came up around Medicare drug pricing and generic drugs. It’s not a surprise to see it come up around health-care reform.
There are a couple reasons that this is a specious argument. One is that according to their filings with the SEC, the drug companies only spend about 15 cents of every dollar on research and development. That’s compared to more than 30 cents in administration and marketing and more than 20 cents on shareholder equity. As an investment in R&D, I think any venture capitalist would say a company spending 15 percent on research is not a robust innovation engine.
The second issue is that if one looks at the new pipeline of drugs that Pharma has been generating in recent years, it’s been puny. Wall Street has noticed this as well. There have been 20 or fewer drugs approved by FDA in recent years, which is lower than in past periods. It’s sort of an open secret that innovation isn’t working that efficiently.
The third leg of the stool is that if you really trace back where the seminal discoveries come from on which new drugs are based, it is federally supported research, usually funded by the National Institute of Health, and frequently conducted at universities or academic medical centers. The drug companies will then identify these discoveries and do hard, costly, and important work commercializing them. And they deserve compensation for that work. But it’s disingenuous for them to imply that all the discoveries occur in their walls.”
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/08/will_health-care_reform_save_m.html
The rest of the interview is very informative for anyone interested in this issue.
@SchrodingersCat – Look out! Joe Sixpack will start calling for the abolition of that Socialst National Institute of Health…
@schrodingerscat
where did you get that math degree from by the way? I want to know where NOT to send my kids.
Enjoy this little vid….so much for your free lunch. You’ll still have to pay premiums and copays under your “single payer” system.
That’s not what you wanted…you wanted it flat out free.
Then he throws the USPS under the bus against Fedex and UPS….not a good day for O
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XTi-WdOu2s&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fhotair%2Ecom%2Farchives%2F2009%2F08%2F11%2Fobama%2Dgovernment%2Dhealth%2Dcare%2Dwill%2Dbe%2Dlike%2Dum%2Dthe%2Dpost%2Doffice%2F&feature=player_embedded
I am a physician and I can’t take any additional pay cuts. My expenses increase every year and my student loan debt is quite large. If reimbursement rates decrease, many doctors will either not participate in government run programs or else they will leave the medical profession entirely and many will never enter it in the first place. Hopefully your nurse practitoner will know what she’s doing when performing complicated cardiac surgery on you in the future.
@Joe Sixpack. You can be an a-hole all you want, but it was an honest question. As a physicist, I have seen the more common million (10 x 6) notations denoted as Mega(M). I had honestly never seen it notated MM. I also could not find such a notation with a quick internet search. Unlike you, I’m willing to admit I don’t know everything and do not suffer under the illusion that I am always right.
BTW, nice way to change the subject, insult me, and not reply in any factual way to Ezra Klein’s article.
Benton Fraser – Thanks for the link for the pharma info. My rheumatologist tells me that he gets a better payback from Medicare for the drugs to treat RA and related conditions, than from most private insurance companies. These drugs are expensive – and there are quite a few of them. The problem is getting private insurers to approve them. I have spent hours on the phone with my insurance company.
Joe Sixpack – I don’t mind if you politicize my situation, but you got to tell it straight. The problem is not a lack of these kind of drugs, there are probably 7 that my Doc and I can choose from to treat my condition, the problem is that insurance WILL do everything they can to get out of paying for them. including playing the slow down game, and my Doc simply cannot afford to be the bank for me. Nor should he be.
Look I eat well, do yoga daily, and try to keep a positive attitude. But if I ever lose my husband’s insurance benefits I am sunk.
We lived a while in Australia, there are many days I wish we would have stayed there just so I could focus on being well, and not on insurance.
Oh and Benton – I think Jesus made it clear in the parable of the Good Samaritan what he thought was the best thing to do – pick up the guy by the side of the road, take him to a hospital and pay for the care out of your pocket. Sounds like a single payer plan would meet that ethos.
@schrodingercat
Truce man…take it easy. You started by insulting my intelligence for using MM and demeaning me with your degree.
But I’ve entered comments her b/c I’m trying to separate facts from rhetoric. I really try if you look at my posts. Thanks for your explanation on the scientific side.
Earlier a poster asked why PHARMA would support health care reform and at the same time fund organizations fighting it. It’s called hedging your bet. You support your public image at the same time as you try to protect your bottom line.
I just feel passionate about disseminating information based on truth and accuracy. It is unforgivable for your group to misinform and scare seniors, their families and other Americans with all your falsehoods concerning Health Care Reform! A vigorous debate with a full range of ideas on the Health Care Reform Bill is a good thing but it must be based on facts not fiction.
I just feel passionate about disseminating information based on truth and accuracy. It is unforgivable for your group 60 Plus to misinform and scare seniors, their families and other Americans with all your falsehoods concerning Health Care Reform! A vigorous debate with a full range of ideas on the Health Care Reform Bill is a good thing but it must be based on facts not fiction.
Single payer?
Medicare for all?
Off the table?
Just like Impeachment was!
Left & rights of passage
black & whites of youth.
Who can face the knowledge
that the truth is not the truth?
Obsolete Absolute.
Anderson Baldwin Carter Choate Clemente Gonzalez Gravel Kaptur Kucinich McKinney Nader Paul Perot Sheehan Ventura.
Future of a Nation that can not trust the Government & Propaganda Media?
DNC & RNC have sold out the country in order to enrich themselves.
Chronic lying as career path, intellectual prostitution for paycheck.
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
Does the Government & Propaganda Media lie to you?
Mussolini Corporate State, Subversion of Democracy.
Poodles, Puppets, Sham debates, & Scam elections.
Wall Street Bailout Bill: Bush McCain Obama et al.
AIPAC 9/11 Bankers Extortion Blackmail Bribery.
Independents agree on more than we disagree.
Elite Ruling Class Greed or public servants?
Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil?
Honesty compassion conscience guts?
Both parties are corrupt to the core.
Beware the divide and conquer.
Whistle-Blower leaks multiply.
A very RawStory on PressTV.
InfoWars on a PrisonPlanet.
Israel-first dual-nationals.
Gung-Ho Chickenhawks.
Homeland Police State.
JFK RFK MLK Malcolm.
Anthrax Intimidation.
“Federal” Reserve.
NAFTA Nation?
GGreenwald
let me make sure I understand this double speak
in another thread the dems are running ads slamming their own and are readly to eat Nelson alive (nothing taste better to a dem their eating their own) for runnning an ad in response to an attack ad from his own party for not getting in lockstep with the DNC and the posters cheer.
Now these same cheerleaders see that big scary R ad and drop their pompoms to exclaim- oh how horrible, what racists and lairs, why kind of people act like this, oh the horror the maybe the union or police will give them a beat down.
what passion do you feel when it’s your President giving the false information? I notice not one mention of his lies out here or would that be racists?
this is just one of the thousands of lies this man has spewed since taking over america. yet the passionate are so silent you can hear a pinhead progressive drop.
Photo
President Barack Obama participates in an AARP tele-town hall on health care, July 28, 2009, in Washington. After making references to the group’s endorsement of his health plan at a town hall meeting, AARP refuted the claims. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
Stories
10 Health Care Reform Myths
Under Fire, Obama Takes Health Plan West
(AP) A group usually seen as one of Barack Obama’s allies in the health care debate – AARP – says the president went too far Tuesday when he said the seniors lobby had endorsed the legislation pending in Congress.
AARP is sensitive to the issue because polls show that Medicare beneficiaries are worried their health care program will be cut to subsidize coverage for the uninsured.
At the town hall in Portsmouth, N.H., Obama said, “We have the AARP onboard because they know this is a good deal for our seniors.” He added, “AARP would not be endorsing a bill if it was undermining Medicare.”
But Tom Nelson, AARP’s chief operating officer, said, “Indications that we have endorsed any of the major health care reform bills currently under consideration in Congress are inaccurate.”
Like Obama, AARP wants action this year to cover the uninsured and restrain health care costs, but the organization has refrained from endorsing legislation. Nelson said AARP would not endorse a bill that reduces Medicare benefits.
A spokesman said the Medicare cuts that have been proposed so far would not affect benefits.
cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/12/politics/main5236159.shtml
Don’t worry Tom you endorse it you just don’t know it yet but will find out when you are ordered to the whitehouse with specific instructions to come in through the backdoor!!
“We have the AARP onboard because they know this is a good deal for our seniors.” He added, “AARP would not be endorsing a bill if it was undermining Medicare.”
But Tom Nelson, AARP’s chief operating officer, said, “Indications that we have endorsed any of the major health care reform bills currently under consideration in Congress are inaccurate.”
Great site been reading and will add your site to mine.