Re: Health Care: The Ticking Time Bomb
This item from
"Quote-of-the-day", demonstrates the skulduggery
using huge amounts of cash from extremely influencial newspaper(s). That
limits the information shown to the public, which could sponsor resistance to a project that isn't in accord with what powerful government figures want published.
It's difficult for the average person reading newspaper reports such as those below, to dissect the true direction of it. Also, propaganda-like information is printed as news. It's so important,
when we form our opinions, that we
consider where and from whom we get our information, from the aspect of how corruptable its source is. When in doubt, I always go from suspicion of "corrupt", unless proven otherwise.
In this day's post, I am sure that quote-for-a-day is a reliable source, as I have subscribed to it through someone on allnurses, whose posts I've found are impeccable. I know I'll not trust the Washington Post's "news" reports in the future.
I read a column in my local newspaper the other day, that was supposedly something representing views of "the left". It was definitely in opposition to liberal viewpoints, once I looked closely.
If you decide to communicate with this newsletter, please
keep to the facts (ma'am, as the detective in an old TV series was often quoted). Personal posts without specific reference to their source, detracts from our submissions and makes us sound less than reliable. Allnurses has closed several threads due to that kind of thing, which is a sad reflection of some members' lack of self control (myself included, at times when I become sufficiently riled).
Here is the newsletter:
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Today's Topics:
1. qotd:
The Washington Post kills Blue Cross Blue Shield story
(Don McCanne)
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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:46:01 -0700
From: Don McCanne <
don@mccanne.org>
Subject: qotd: The Washington Post kills Blue Cross Blue Shield story
To: Quote-of-the-Day <
quote-of-the-day@mccanne.org>
Message-ID:
<
7e6e14470907271046j12991eccg89aba1f7a9b1038d@mail. gmail.com>
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The Washington Post
July 22, 2009
Research Firm Cited by GOP Is Owned by Health Insurer
By David S. Hilzenrath
The political battle over health-care reform is waged largely with numbers,
and
few number-crunchers have shaped the debate as much as the Lewin Group, a consulting firm whose research has been widely cited by opponents of a public insurance option.
****
Lewin's
clients include the
government and private groups with a variety of perspectives, including the Commonwealth Fund and the Heritage Foundation. A
February report contained information that could be used to argue for a single-payer system, the approach most threatening to private insurers, Sheils noted.
But
not all of the firm's reports see the light of day. For example, a study for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association was never released, Sheils said.
"Let's just say, sometimes
studies come out that don't show exactly what the client wants to see. And in those instances, they have [the] option to bury the study -- to not release it, rather," Sheils said.
Asked to comment,
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association spokesman Brett Lieberman said, "We're still working with Lewin on a study, and, you know, we don't talk about our studies until they're done."
In testimony last month to a House committee,
Lewin disclosed its affiliation with UnitedHealth and Ingenix in its written submission, but in his oral testimony he did not bring it up until asked, according to a transcript.
****
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/22/AR2009072202216.html
And...
The Washington Post
July 23, 2009 Insurer-Owned Consulting Firm Often Cited in
Health Debate
By David S. Hilzenrath
In a
revised version of the same article published the next day, the section
appearing between the rows of asterisks was rewritten as follows:
****
Lewin's
clients include
the government and groups with a variety of perspectives, including the Commonwealth Fund and the Heritage Foundation. A
February report by the firm contained information that could be used to argue for a national system known as single-payer, the approach most threatening to insurers, Sheils noted.
But not all of Lewin's reports see the light of day. "Let's just say,
sometimes studies come out that don't show exactly what the client wants to see. And in those instances, they have [the] option to bury the study,"
Sheils said.
****
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/22/AR2009072203696.html
And...
The Washington Post
July 12, 2009
A
Sponsorship Scandal at The Post
By Andrew Alexander, Ombudsman
The Washington Post's ill-fated plan to sell sponsorships of off-the-record
"salons" was an
ethical lapse of monumental proportions.
Publisher Katharine Weymouth and Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli have now
taken full responsibility for what was envisioned as a series of
11 intimate
dinners to discuss public policy issues. For a
fee of up to
$25,000, underwriters were
guaranteed a seat at the table with lawmakers, administration officials, think tank experts,
business leaders and the heads of associations. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/11/AR2009071100290.html
Comment: Just as the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association killed a study by
The Lewin Group that had findings that they didn't want people to see, The
Washington Post killed the reporting of the decision of Blue Cross Blue
Shield to bury that study.
The Washington Post is attempting to recover from one of the most serious
ethical lapses in the history of mainstream journalism - the selling of
access to the publisher, reporters, and others so participants could "build
crucial relationships with Washington Post news executives in a neutral and
informal setting."
What has The Washington Post learned? In their decision to manipulate the
news on behalf of the private insurance industry during the intensive effort
in Washington to reform health care, it's clear that The Washington Post
didn't learn squat about journalism ethics.
They would have been more honest if they simply sold The Washington Post
Company to Fox News. At least we would know with no uncertainty where they
stood. Maybe we already do.
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I vote for single payer health Insurance--why should insurance corporations make great profits on our health care ?
Nursing News