California Attorney General Called To Investigate Insurance Companies’ Anti-Health Reform Advocacy

THINK PROGRESS

The Los Angeles Times reported today that the California-based Consumer Watchdog has submitted a letter to Attorney General Jerry Brown calling for an investigation of insurance giants Wellpoint and United HealthCare (UHC). The complaint comes in response to the insurance companies’ practice of actively encouraging employees to engage in anti-health care reform political activity. According to Consumer Watchdog, “while coercive communications with employees may be legal, if abhorrent, in most states, California’s Labor Code appears to directly prohibit them.”

UHC was exposed last month for creating a call center that directed employees to anti-health reform protests. More recently, Wellpoint launched a “grassroots Web site” urging employees to “make [their] voice heard” by contacting Congress in opposition to health reform. Now it appears that these tactics may have been a violation of California law. According to the watchdog organization’s letter, UnitedHealthCare’s anti-reform hotline and Wellpoint’s astroturf lobbying website may violate California laws meant to prevent employers from influencing the political activity of its employees.....................

The Real Town Hall Story

By E.J. Dionne Jr.
Thursday, September 3, 2009

Health-care reform is said to be in trouble partly because of those raucous August town-hall meetings in which Democratic members of Congress were besieged by shouters opposed to change.

But what if our media-created impression of the meetings is wrong? What if the highly publicized screamers represented only a fraction of public opinion? What if most of the town halls were populated by citizens who respectfully but firmly expressed a mixture of support, concern and doubt?

There is an overwhelming case that the electronic media went out of their way to cover the noise and ignored the calmer (and from television's point of view "boring") encounters between elected representatives and their constituents.

It's also clear that the anger that got so much attention largely reflects a fringe right-wing view opposed to all sorts of government programs most Americans support. Much as the far left of the antiwar movement commanded wide coverage during the Vietnam years, so now are extremists on the right hogging the media stage -- with the media's complicity.

Over the past week, I've spoken with Democratic House members, most from highly contested districts, about what happened in their town halls. None would deny polls showing that the health-reform cause lost ground last month, but little of the probing civility that characterized so many of their forums was ever seen on television.

"I think the media coverage has done a disservice by falling for a trick that you'd think experienced media hands wouldn't fall for: of allowing loud voices to distort the debate," said Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, whose district includes Columbus, Ohio.

At her town halls, she said, "I got serious questions, I got hostile questions, I got questions about how this would work, I got questions about how much it will cost. I also got a lot of comments from people who said it's important for their families and businesses to get health-care reform."

Rep. Frank Kratovil hails from a very conservative district that includes Maryland's Eastern Shore and says it didn't bother him that he was hung in effigy in July by a right-wing group. "As a former prosecutor, I consider that to be mild," he said with a chuckle. The episode, he added, was not at all typical of his town-hall meetings, where "most of the people were there to express legitimate concerns about the bill, wondering about how it was going to impact them" and wanting "to know the truth about some of the things that were being said about the bill."

The most disturbing account came from Rep. David Price of North Carolina, who spoke with a stringer for one of the television networks at a large town-hall meeting he held in Durham.

The stringer said he was one of 10 people around the country assigned to watch such encounters. Price said he was told flatly: "Your meeting doesn't get covered unless it blows up." As it happens, the Durham audience was broadly sympathetic to reform efforts. No "news" there.

Rep. Chet Edwards of Texas is one member who did attend gatherings dominated by boisterous opponents of health reform.

At a meeting in Waco, a man asked him what constitutional authority the federal government had to get involved in health care. Edwards replied, "Article One, Section Eight," which empowers Congress to provide for the "general welfare of the United States." Then Edwards asked the man if he opposed "the federal government being involved in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and children's health care." The man said he was, and the room roared its approval.

"I will wear it as a badge of honor that I was shouted at by people who oppose Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and children's health," Edwards said. The shouters, he added, did not speak for most of his constituents, but for "the Ron Paul libertarian position that represents 2 to 5 percent of the country."

When I reached Rep. Tom Perriello last week, he divided the crowds at the 17 town halls he had held to that point in his largely rural Virginia district into three groups: conservatives, for whom the health-care battle is "about big government, socialism and all that"; the left, for whom "it's about corporate accountability"; and a "middle" for whom "it's about health care costs" and the problems with their coverage.

But the only citizens who commanded widespread media coverage last month were the right-wingers. And I bet you thought the media were "liberal."

Media Matters Daily Summary 09-02-09

Scarborough still distorting $23 trillion bailout figure
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough falsely claimed that "Congress says that we've gone through -- guaranteed $23 trillion to banks and institutions." In fact, the source of the $23 trillion figure, a report by the inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Plan, clearly states that the number represents the federal government's hypothetical maximum amount of support to the financial system, not the amount of support that has been committed, which is significantly less. Read More

WSJ joins list of media ignoring GOP's reconciliation double standard
The Wall Street Journal uncritically quoted Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) saying "there'll be a minor revolution in this country" if Democrats use the budget reconciliation process to pass health care reform. The Journal did not note that, during the Bush administration, Alexander voted to use the reconciliation process to pass tax cuts and voted against amendments that would have stripped reconciliation language from budget resolutions. Read More

Conservatives on Obama's stay-in-school speech: "Indoctrination," "brainwashing," Communist China, Hitler Youth
Numerous conservatives have claimed that President Obama's upcoming September 8 speech about "persisting and succeeding in school," along with classroom activities about the "importance of education," will "indoctrinate" and "brainwash" schoolchildren. Conservatives have compared Obama's address to Chinese communism and the Hitler Youth, while also calling for parents to "keep your kids home" from the "fascist in chief." Read More

Perino falsely suggests allowing federally subsidized health plans to cover abortion is inconsistent with current law
Criticizing Democratic health reform bills for allowing federally subsidized health insurance plans to cover abortion, Fox News contributor Dana Perino claimed that the "Hyde Amendment was supposed to protect against" allowing health insurance plans "that get subsidies from the taxpayer dollars" to cover abortion. In fact, the bills do not depart from current law as embodied in the Hyde Amendment -- indeed, many states cover abortions under the federally subsidized Medicaid program, even in circumstances where federal money is prohibited from being spent on abortion by that amendment. Read More

Fox News' embedded reporter Jenkins cheerleads for anti-Dem Tea Party Express
Despite his claim to be "simply reporting" on the Tea Party Express rallies, Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins, who is traveling with the cross-country protest bus tour, has repeatedly expressed support for the protesters, who he has referred to as "the America that Washington forgot." Fox News has consistently promoted the Tea Party Express -- which is organized by a political action committee whose mission is to oppose President Obama and other Democrats -- as well as other "tea party" protests. Read More

Fox's Kelly gives "hat tip" to birther, Obama-Hitler Youth comparing blog Gateway Pundit
On the September 2 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, co-host Megyn Kelly gave a "hat tip" to the blog Gateway Pundit, which Kelly said is where "we found" video of "a new effort to silence critics of the Democrats' [health care] plan." The Gateway Pundit blog has frequently pushed the conspiracy theory that President Obama doesn't have a valid birth certificate; speculated that Obama may instead be a Kenyan; and recently compared Obama's September 8 speech about "persisting and succeeding in school" to indoctrinating the Hitler Youth. Read More

Sanity on hold: Fox News warns Democrats: "Don't meddle with our patriotic music"
Fox News hosts have recently fixated on the House's decision to terminate a pilot program to -- in the words of Bret Baier -- "kill the patriotic tunes callers hear when they're put on hold." Sean Hannity claimed that it "serves as a lesson to the Democrats: Don't meddle with our patriotic music," while Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy said the program is "one of the most boneheaded moves of the summer" and claimed "America wins" because the House is once again playing "patriotic" music. Read More

Thank the Republicans for getting into people lives ... US appeals court upholds Internet gambling ban

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A U.S. appeals court upheld an Internet gambling ban Tuesday, rejecting a challenge from an association of off-shore bookies that the federal prohibition was too vague and violated privacy rights.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia rejected arguments from Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association in New Jersey, which had filed the lawsuit hoping to legalize online betting in that state.

Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006 to ban online gambling that would be illegal in the state where the individual or gambling business conducts the transaction. The law does not target the bet itself but criminalizes bank or credit card transactions linked to the bet.

The group, comprised of mostly offshore betting operators, had attacked the law as unconstitutionally vague. Their lawyers questioned how the location of an online bet would be determined if the gambler is in Delaware, for instance, and the operation is in Costa Rica.

At least one of the three judges who heard arguments last month seemed to question that logic.

"No matter how metaphysical you want to get, I'm not in Costa Rica, I'm in Delaware," 3rd Circuit Judge Kent Jordan said.

The court also rejected arguments that the law invades a gambler's right to privacy in the home.

The Justice Department, which successfully defended the law, had no immediate comment, a spokesman said.

While the association is considering an appeal, Chairman Joe Brennan Jr. said he saw a potential victory in the ruling because most states have not expressly addressed the legality of online betting.

"(The Justice Department) has been insisting there is a blanket ban on Internet gambling in the U.S., but the panel said state law is the determinant," Brennan said. "If you go by that reasoning, if it's not illegal in that state, then it would not be a violation of federal law to process a transaction from a player there."

The group also is involved in a lawsuit in New Jersey that challenges the constitutionality of a 1992 federal ban on most sports betting. The association says sports betting could bring $100 million or more in tax revenues to state coffers on an existing - if underground - market estimated at $10 billion annually in the state.

Brennan noted that New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine wants to intervene in the case in support of sports betting, and the chairman said other states are showing interest.

"There's a lot of interest in it just because of the times and the straits the states find themselves in," Brennan said.

Delaware officials tried to legalize sports betting in their state, arguing that they enjoy grandfather rights under the 1992 law.

But the appeals court last month struck down the attempt, limiting the state to the parlay bets on professional football games that were allowed at the time

What being a republican is all about

'GO BE A GROWN UP'.... Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R) of Kansas has, all of a sudden, started making quite a name for herself. Last week, the far-right lawmaker said she hopes to see a "great white hope" step up to defeat President Obama and congressional Democrats. Now a clip is making the rounds with Jenkins sharing her thoughts on the plight of the uninsured.

In this clip, taken at a July town hall meeting, Jenkins is confronted by a constituent named Elizabeth Smith -- a full-time waitress with two young kids. Smith's employer doesn't provide insurance, and she can't afford private coverage. Smith's not looking for a handout; she's looking for an affordable choice.

"I want an option that I can pay for," Smith told her representative. "I work. I pay my bills. I'm not a burden on the state. I pay my taxes. So why can't I get an affordable option? Why are you against that?"

Jenkins responds, literally chuckling at the question, "A government-run program is going to subsidize not only yours but everybody in this room. So I'm not sure what we're talking about here."

Jenkins went on to tell Smith that "people should be given the opportunity to take care of themselves with a refund, or an advanceable [sic] tax credit, to go be a grown-up and go buy the insurance."

"Be a grown-up"? The taxpaying constituent Jenkins was blithely dismissing works full time and takes care of two young kids. She is a "grown-up." Indeed, tens of millions of Americans are lacking coverage -- some due to pre-existing conditions, some because their insurers dropped them through rescission, some because they can't afford it -- and it's not because they haven't "grown up."

I'm trying to remember the last time I saw a member of Congress take such a condescending attitude towards struggling American families. Nothing comes to mind.

Later, Smith explained she hasn't been able to take her two-year-old son to a doctor in 21 months, except for emergency room visits for ear infections. "I am frustrated," she said. "In a functioning, civil society, people take care of each other."

I keep wondering if there might be one game-changing moment in the debate, a turning point in which one person stands up and becomes a symbol for the larger cause. That's probably not realistic, though I thought we might have seen such a moment recently when Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) callously rejected the concerns of a woman whose husband is a brain-injury victim. It got a little attention, but in general, people didn't care.

Maybe Elizabeth Smith's plight will gain more traction? She doesn't want charity; she wants an affordable choice for her and her family. Democrats want to give her one. And yet, here we have at least one Republican lawmaker who finds the idea of giving struggling families a choice laugh-out-loud funny. Indeed, she'd like to see Americans who can't afford coverage do more to "go be a grown-up."

Media Matters Daily Summary 09-01-09

Liz Cheney now peddling health reform falsehoods
On ABC's This Week, Liz Cheney repeated the false claim that President Obama admitted "he hasn't read" the House tri-committee health care reform bill, and on Fox News' On the Record, Cheney asserted as fact that Obama hasn't "actually read any of the legislation." Cheney's false attacks on Obama and health care reform followed numerous television appearances in which she spread falsehoods about the president and his policies. Read More

Goldberg ignores Bush's responsibility for $1 trillion deficit in 2009
In a September 1 USA Today op-ed calling Republicans and Democrats "hypocrites for caring about the deficit," Jonah Goldberg wrote that "Obama's budget will have, for the first time, a single year deficit of $1 trillion," adding that "Obama's 2009 budget deficit will be greater than all of the Bush deficits from 2002 to 2007 combined." Absent from Goldberg's analysis was the fact that before President Obama took office or signed any legislation, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that, based on actions taken by President Bush and economic conditions at the time, the deficit for fiscal year 2009 would reach $1.2 trillion. Read More

Why Glenn Beck, and Fox News, can't escape the "racist" trap
Have so many blue-chip advertisers ever fled a program as quickly as the who's who of corporate America that's sprinted away from Glenn Beck in recent weeks? I certainly cannot recall ever seeing a mass exodus of this scale. Read More

Lou Dobbs and his hate groupies
By now, CNN's Lou Dobbs, with his single-minded obsession over all things anti-immigrant and his bizarre embrace of the loony birther movement, is well known for trafficking in disturbing, misleading, and often inaccurate garbage. Escaping under the radar of many, however, are his close associations with an organization that has been described by experts as a "hate group." Read More

LA Times forwards Cheney's EIT misinformation

The Los Angeles Times reported Dick Cheney's claim that " 'enhanced interrogation techniques' [EIT] saved American lives and prevented terrorist attacks," without noting -- as it did in a previous article -- that a recently released CIA inspector general's (IG) report stated that "the effectiveness of specific techniques 'cannot be so easily measured.' " Moreover, the Times did not note that Cheney's statement is inconsistent with one he previously gave about the CIA documents, nor did it note that one detainee subjected to EITs, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, has reportedly stated that he gave false information to the CIA during the "harshest period" of his interrogation. Read More

Huh? Hill says Dems may "circumvent Senate rules" by using Senate procedure
A September 1 Hill article reported that Sen. Judd Gregg "told The Hill in a recent interview that Republicans will wage a vicious fight if Democrats try to circumvent Senate rules and use a budget maneuver to pass a trillion-dollar healthcare plan with a simple majority." In fact, the budget maneuver, known as reconciliation, is a part of the current Senate rules and Republicans have previously used it to pass President Bush's agenda -- Gregg himself even introduced a reconciliation bill that, had it been enacted, would have opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, which the Hill article did not report. Read More

Bachmann Says We Should Slit Our Wrists To Fight Health Care

Mexico's health care lures Americans

MEXICO CITY — It sounds almost too good to be true: a health care plan with no limits, no deductibles, free medicines, tests, X-rays, eyeglasses, even dental work — all for a flat fee of $250 or less a year.

To get it, you just have to move to Mexico.

As the United States debates an overhaul of its health care system, thousands of American retirees in Mexico have quietly found a solution of their own, signing up for the health care plan run by the Mexican Social Security Institute.

The system has flaws, the facilities aren't cutting-edge, and the deal may not last long because the Mexican government said in a recent report that it is "notorious" for losing money. But for now, retirees say they're getting a bargain.

"It was one of the primary reasons I moved here," said Judy Harvey of Prescott Valley, who now lives in Alamos, Sonora. "I couldn't afford health care in the United States. … To me, this is the best system that there is."........