Ex-Insurance Exec Details Anti-Healthcare Strategy

If you didn't know that insurance companies and their Republican allies are using an extensive playbook designed to mislead and scare Americans against healthcare reform, check out this Huffington Post report.
Wendell Potter has seen these insurance company tactics when he worked in that industry, and now that he's out of it, he has been sharing his extensive knowledge of how those fighting healthcare reform are trying to scare and mislead Americans into going against their own best interests.
Said Potter, who also has made appearances on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" and Rachel Maddow's show:

"I know from years as an industry P.R. executive how effective insurers can be using scare tactics to turn public opinion against any reforms that affect profitability," said Wendell Potter, who ran corporate communications for health insurance giant CIGNA until last year. "This year, you can rest assured the industry is up to the same dirty tricks."
That's not to say insurers are sending angry citizens to town hall meetings, but Potter said that through "shills" and "buzzwords" they are indirectly responsible for much of the anti-reform "lies and disinformation" dominating the current debate.
"Americans should realize that when they hear isolated stories of long waiting lines or wait times to see doctors in Canada, and allegations that care in other systems is rationed by government bureaucrats, the insurance industry has written the script," he said. "They're masters of linguistics. They know hot-button issues. They know buzzwords that get people excited."

It used to be that when the insurance companies used their tactics to defeat healthcare reform, there was no internet with blog sites capable of delivering effective responses. But what makes this year different is that folks are wising up to the insurance company tactics thanks to the excellent work of sites like Daily Kos and Firedoglake, along with the solid work done on the cable shows of Olbermann and Maddow.
If you thought insurance companies were going to behave great to show their loving kindness after defeating healthcare reform, consider this:

After Clinton-era reform efforts went down in flames, the health insurance industry made no effort to reduce coverage denials for preexisting conditions or other reforms they told Congress they supported, said Potter. More recently, he said, insurers used P.R. vehicles like APCO -- a powerful D.C. firm best known for fronting Phillip Morris' pseudo-scientific defense of smoking back in the nineties -- to try and damage the credibility and limit the influence of Michael Moore's 2007 documentary "Sicko".
Insurers have been effective at maintaining "Wall Street-run health care," Potter said. A strong public option is necessary to change that model, he said -- otherwise, the final bill "might as well be called 'the Insurance Industry Profit and Protection Act.'"

Question: will Congress also wise up and overturn efforts by Republicans and so-called "Blue Dogs" to defeat or at least water down healthcare reform? It's time the Blue Dogs are held accountable for their actions and are confronted with strong primary opponents if they continue to work against their constituents' interests and for those of Republicans and insurance companies.

Blue Dogs Party While Americans Suffer Without Health Insurance

Cross-posted at Daily Kos
The so-called "Blue Dog" Democrats have become totally and completely despicable.
How could these guys ever throw a party over their seemingly efforts to stall meaningful health insurance legislation in the face of some sobering news that came from a Gallup poll?
Here's what the Gallup organization found:

A survey of more than 29,000 individuals in June by Gallup shows that 16 percent of Americans over the age of 18 are currently without health insurance. That number reflects what the survey's authors describe as a "small but measurable uptick in the percentage of uninsured adults."
Indeed, the average number of uninsured adults recorded by Gallup in 2008 was 14.8 percent. In September 2008, the monthly total recorded was at a yearly low of 13.9 percent.

That is very, very troubling. And it should be troubling for anyone even thinking of opposing President Obama's health insurance legislation that includes a strong public option.
And what do the "Blue Dog" Democrats in name only really think about serving American interests over those of private insurers. Check out this passage from the Huffington Post:

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce was supposed to be the third leg supporting health care reform legislation already approved by two other House committees. Instead, this week it's become more of a fifth wheel. The committee's markup sessions for Tuesday and Wednesday have been canceled in the face of opposition to the bill from the panel's conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats.
So Monday's markup may have lasted past midnight, but on Tuesday evening the committee's Blue Dogs were free to party, and party they did! Reps. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah) feted fellow Blue Dog Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Northwest Washington from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Ross is the lead Blue Dog on health care reform.

If you needed any more evidence that these Blue Dogs don't give a rat's a-- about folks like me, how do they even justify their partying over their stalling of health insurance legislation?
These Blue Dogs may feel well at home dealing with Republicans and their health insurance company allies, but when it comes to serving folks like me, they didn't even come close. In fact, their conduct strikes me as sheer gutter.
It's time we stopped playing nice with these Blue Dogs and contest them in every way possible. Partying while Americans suffer without decent health care is as tasteless and boorish as it gets, and these Blue Dog boors must be so badly shamed that they are actually forced to allow the passage of meaningful health insurance legislation WITH a meaningful public option.