Patient Opt Out Relies On Frank Luntz Talking Points

NOOO Mimics Insurance Industry-Funded Pollster Frank Luntz

Frank Luntz's Clients Include Some Of America's Largest Heath Insurance And Pharmaceutical Companies.  According to the website of Luntz, Maslansky Strategic Research, the firm's clients include Blue Cross Blue Shield, Consumer Healthcare Products Association, CIGNA Dental Health, HIP Health Plan of New York and Pfizer. [Luntz, Maslansky Strategic Research, accessed 6/17/09]

NOOO Architect, Larry Ward, Claims Frank Luntz As A Client.  In the press release announcing the National Obamacare Opt Out registry, Larry Ward was named as the project's architect.  Ward is also president of Political Media, Inc., which lists "Luntz, Maslansky Strategic Research" as clients. [NOOO Release, accessed 6/29/09; Political Media, Inc., accessed 6/29/09]

"NOOO" Facts, Just Luntz Spin: Government Takeover

Patient Opt Out: "If President Obama has his way, the federal government will take over healthcare and turn it over to the bureaucrats to run." [Patient Opt Out, accessed 6/29/09; emphasis added] 

Luntz Memo, Rule 5:  "You'll notice we recommend the phrase 'government takeover' rather than 'government run' or 'government controlled.'"  [The Language of Healthcare 2009, by Frank Luntz, accessed 5/21/09, emphasis original]

"Government takeover" language is fear-mongering, plain and simple.  The government will not absorb the health insurance market.  President Obama and other Democrats have been clear about the public/private hybrid system they are envisioning and the hopes that the creation of a public option will provide some much needed competition to the private health care industry.

• Health Care Reform Will Be Uniquely American.  Sen. Max Baucus, who is spearheading health care reform from the helm of the Senate Finance Committee, said: "We are not Europe.  We are not Canada...We need a uniquely American solution.  It has to be a partnership of public and private players." [Washington Post, 5/11/09]

• President Obama: "Keep The Private Sector Honest, Because There's Some Competition Out There."  During the Health Care Summit at the White House, Senator Grassley commented to President Obama, "there's a lot of us that feel that the public option that the government is an unfair competitor and that we're going to get an awful lot of crowd out, and we have to keep what we have now strong, and make it stronger." President Obama replied: "The thinking on the public option has been that it gives consumers more choices, and it helps give -- keep the private sector honest, because there's some competition out there. That's been the thinking. [Health Care Summit, Transcript via Talking Points Memo, 3/5/09]

• "A Public Plan Would Provide An Essential Option" For Americans.  Harold Pollack, public health policy researcher at the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration and faculty chair of the Center for Health Administration Studies, wrote in an op-ed: "A public plan would provide an essential option--and an equally essential backup--for millions of Americans living with chronic illnesses or disabilities." [The New Republic, 3/10/09]

• Sen. Baucus: The Reformed Health Care System "Will Be A Public/Private Hybrid." The American Prospect published a quote of Senator Baucus saying: "We need health insurer reform to get rid of preexisting conditions and other ways insurers discriminate. That's part of our plan here, and the CEOs of many larger insurance companies are on board. They know this change is coming. They may lose the current model but they pick up on volume with 46 million people coming into the system...And that will be a public/private hybrid. There may come a time when we can push for single payer. But that time is not yet, and so I'm not going to waste my time." [The American Prospect, accessed 3/6/09]

"NOOO" Facts, Just Luntz Spin: Government Bureaucrats

Patient Opt Out: "The NOOO! Registry will be a clear demonstration that healthcare run by government bureaucrats is not in the common interest and actually diminishes the general welfare." [Patient Opt Out, accessed 6/29/09; emphasis added] 

Luntz Memo, Rule 7: "The idea that a  'committee of Washington bureaucrats' will establish the standard of care for all Americans and decide who gets what treatment based on how much it costs is anathema to Americans.  Your approach?  Call for the 'protection of the personalized doctor-patient relationship.'"  [The Language of Healthcare 2009, by Frank Luntz, accessed 5/21/09, emphasis original]

Right now, there are bureaucrats standing between Americans and their doctors - insurance company bureaucrats.  

• Insurance Bureaucrats Stand Between Americans And Their Doctors.  Dr. Howard Dean said on MSNBC: "Right now there is a bureaucrat between you and your doctor, and it's that private health insurance bureaucrat." [MSNBC transcript and video via MadvilleTimes, accessed 6/17/09]