Flawed Insurance Industry Report Is Rallying Cry For Obama Grassroots Group

One of the key dynamics at yesterday's historic Senate Finance Committee hearing was the schism between Democrats and Republicans on the findings of a health insurance industry-designed analysis of the Baucus Bill. While Republicans were cautiously willing to accept the report, Democrats used it to highlight the need for true reform. And now, President Obama's grassroots political organization is attempting some similar jujitsu.

In a letter to members, Organizing for America describes the industry report as "a blatant scare tactic designed to frighten voters and bully Congress...Send a message urging Congress to stand with voters, not D.C. lobbyists, and pass real reform."

You can read the entire letter below the fold. Yesterday, Democratic senators were almost giddy that the unpopular industry had decided to take them on, predicting that the move would actually make reform more likely to pass. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) even predicted that the report had even improved the chances that the final bill will include a public option.

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Despite increasingly desperate attacks from the insurance lobby, the Senate Finance Committee took the historic step of voting reform legislation out of committee with bipartisan support. They're the final committee to do so -- and the negotiations over the final bill will now move to the full House and Senate.

Soon, every senator and representative must decide where they stand. Lobbyists will be racing to each office, trying every trick in the book to derail the President's plan. In fact, just this week, the insurance lobby released a self-serving report falsely claiming that reform would increase costs. Journalists called it "deceptive" and said "something doesn't smell right here." A prominent M.I.T. economist described the study as "deeply flawed."

It's a blatant scare tactic designed to frighten voters and bully Congress -- and it's just the beginning. We need to speak out right away to show Congress that their constituents are watching closely, and we're counting on them to say "no" to the lobbyists and "yes" to reform.

Send a message urging Congress to stand with voters, not D.C. lobbyists, and pass real reform.

Send a message to Congress

It's becoming clear that the insurance companies will do whatever it takes to stop progress: The New York Times is reporting that special interests are spending $1.4 million every day to kill reform -- and even commissioned their own slanted analysis of the Finance Committee's legislation in an effort to defeat it. But today, after widespread criticism, the company that produced the report issued a statement saying that it analyzed only part of the bill because that's exactly what the insurance industry paid them to do!

And we just got word that insurance companies are spending $1 million on a misleading ad to scare seniors out of supporting reform. The ad falsely declares that reform will cause cuts in Medicare, even though reform is crucial to ensuring the long-term survival of the program and preserving the care that millions of seniors depend on.

Now that all five congressional committees have passed reform legislation, we're sure to see attacks that are even more extreme. It's up to us to make sure that ordinary Americans continue to be heard louder than the Washington lobbyists.

Please send a message to Congress today:

http://my.barackobama.com/Fight_Back

The next few weeks are absolutely crucial to our success -- we'll be organizing events, running ads, and doing everything possible to make sure Congress passes real reform. But right now, the most important thing we can do is make our voices heard immediately. Please speak out now.

Thanks,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America