Health Insurance Lobby Pays Consultants to Exploit Seniors in Fake Grassroots Campaign
Health Care for America Now Demands AHIP Immediately Denounce Tactics
Washington, DC – The Eagle Tribune – a Massachusetts newspaper – has uncovered a health insurance industry scam designed to exploit senior citizens and protect industry profits. In his article entitled –“Elderly used as front in letter-writing campaign,” Editorial Page Editor Ken Johnson details how he received several suspicious Letters to the Editor and then took a phone call from someone impersonating a senior’s grandson. Johnson pursued his gut instincts and uncovered an intentionally orchestrated fake grassroots campaign commissioned by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and carried out by primarily Democratic lobbying firm Dewey Square Group.
“The health insurance lobby says it’s all for health care reform this time around, and yet it’s already engaged in deceptive tactics – exploiting seniors, impersonating grandchildren, and hiring high profile consulting firms to do their dirty work,’ said Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager for Health Care for America Now. “Why would we expect anything less from an industry that’s beholden to Wall Street and that puts corporate profits before people’s health? How many other firms has AHIP hired? What other scams and scare tactics do they have up their sleeves?”
According to The Eagle Tribune, America's Health Insurance Plans hired the Dewey Square Group “to defend the Medicare Advantage program.” President Obama wants to cut the waste out of Medicare Advantage, replacing a 14% giveaway to private insurers with a competitive bidding process.
“The insurance lobby has already spoken out against the President’s plan in an effort to protect its profits, but using unsuspecting seniors in a scheme to fake grassroots support is just outrageous. We demand AHIP immediately denounce these tactics and stop exploiting seniors for the benefit of corporate greed,” Kirsch added.
Health Care for America Now (HCAN) - the nation’s largest health care campaign - has been consistently exposing the health insurance industry’s phony “grassroots” antics. HCAN activists confronted AHIP at the launch of its faux “listening tour” this summer, and the industry front group responded by altering its schedule and refusing to openly publicize future dates and times. HCAN also exposed AHIP’s hollow solicitation for consumer feedback with a video proving AHIP’s toll free number went straight to voicemail and remained unanswered.
Health Care for America Now organizers are currently holding more than 100 true grassroots events in 44 states with more than 30 Members of Congress to stress the urgent need for true health care reform this year that guarantees quality, affordable health care for all with comprehensive benefits that meet people’s needs and the choice of a public health insurance plan so people are no longer at the mercy of unethical, profit-driven private insurers. A comprehensive list of events nationwide is online now at HealthCareForAmericaNow.org.
