Group launches health care offensive

[Joanne98]

Firing some of the first shots in the coming showdown over health care, a conservative group led by the former owner of the Hospital Corporation of America is beginning a multimillion-dollar campaign Tuesday in opposition to government-run coverage.

Conservatives for Patients Rights is going on TV, radio and the Web in the same week President Barack Obama hosts a health care summit at the White House. The group’s leader, Richard Scott, is hoping a pro-free-market message will rally the right to join the fray on what may be the most hard-fought policy battle in the first year of the new administration.

“If we have more government involvement we’re going to have dramatically worse health care,” said Scott, the wealthy health care executive who is overseeing the effort and seeding it with $5 million of his own cash.

Scott, a major GOP donor, is pushing for four principles to any health care reform package: individual choice, competition between carriers, giving patients’ ownership over their own coverage and rewarding those who make healthy lifestyle choices.

“I want health care reform to happen but I want it the right way,”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19542.html

Howard Dean was on MSNBC today and he said it's going to come down to a CHOICE. Obama is going to give us a choice between private insurance and medicare. FOR EVERYONE! If you want to buy health insurance from lying, thieving, corrupted insurance companies in the private sector you can. BUT if you don't trust them because they're all criminals like AIG you will have a CHOICE to buy medicare health insurance from the good ole' TRUSTWORTHY federal government. YAY!

Honest insurance for everyone and the Chamber of Commerce is even supporting it. How can we lose..

Expect MASSIVE amounts of money to be dumped on the Senate from the lobbyists.

[BR_Parkway]

1. individual choice,giving patients’ ownership over their own coverage

and rewarding those who make healthy lifestyle choices. Could all be done with universal health care.

Remind me again why we need competition between carriers? Isn't that what got us to this point? Competition for Wall St ratings and rewards?

[Jackpine Radical]

2. In any competition between private insurance & Medicare,

Medicare wins hands-down. I think the point is to allow the privat guys prove that htey can't compete.