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The Real Hoax Is Health Care
Oct 19, 2009
An attention grab that held millions of Americans transfixed. A story that seemed to be about life in the balance. It dominated the airwaves, the social networks, held Americans in its clutch. And then it turned out to have been nothing but a hoax. A play for attention that distracted the entire country.
Now that the Balloon Boy's story is blown, can we call out the health care hoax?
The anti-health care lobby is taking all our attention hostage. And a nation's hopes (and votes) for quality health care are floating away, leaving real lives in real danger.
If you're angry and feel played by the Heene family of Colorado, you'd better be furious at the private insurers.
If you want Richard Heene and his wife to be jailed and their kids taken into protective care - you better be fighting for all Americans to be taken out of the custody of abusive wealth-insurance companies.
We know now that the Heenes were smart about how to manipulate the media in part because they'd starred in two episodes of Wife Swap. Cigna, Aetna, United Health own the news. They and their guns-for-hire lobbyists underwrite just about every pseudo-news show. Call it "News Swap." (Theirs for the real stuff.)
And right now, with their House Republican pals they're planning to stop a health care bill by spending the next three weeks arguing over a phony-facts study that claims that the Democrats' measure will be a bad deal for small businesses, senior citizens, and women and children,"
At least the empty balloon that the Heene's floated was harmless. The anti-health care lobby is taking us all for a ride. Where is the sheriff when you need him? And where are the felony charges?
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© 2023 Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders interviews forward-thinking people about the key questions of our time on The Laura Flanders Show, a nationally syndicated radio and television program also available as a podcast. A contributing writer to The Nation, Flanders is also the author of six books, including "Bushwomen: How They Won the White House for Their Man" (2005). She is the recipient of a 2019 Izzy Award for excellence in independent journalism, the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award for advancing women's and girls' visibility in media, and a 2020 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship for her reporting and advocacy for public media. lauraflanders.org
An attention grab that held millions of Americans transfixed. A story that seemed to be about life in the balance. It dominated the airwaves, the social networks, held Americans in its clutch. And then it turned out to have been nothing but a hoax. A play for attention that distracted the entire country.
Now that the Balloon Boy's story is blown, can we call out the health care hoax?
The anti-health care lobby is taking all our attention hostage. And a nation's hopes (and votes) for quality health care are floating away, leaving real lives in real danger.
If you're angry and feel played by the Heene family of Colorado, you'd better be furious at the private insurers.
If you want Richard Heene and his wife to be jailed and their kids taken into protective care - you better be fighting for all Americans to be taken out of the custody of abusive wealth-insurance companies.
We know now that the Heenes were smart about how to manipulate the media in part because they'd starred in two episodes of Wife Swap. Cigna, Aetna, United Health own the news. They and their guns-for-hire lobbyists underwrite just about every pseudo-news show. Call it "News Swap." (Theirs for the real stuff.)
And right now, with their House Republican pals they're planning to stop a health care bill by spending the next three weeks arguing over a phony-facts study that claims that the Democrats' measure will be a bad deal for small businesses, senior citizens, and women and children,"
At least the empty balloon that the Heene's floated was harmless. The anti-health care lobby is taking us all for a ride. Where is the sheriff when you need him? And where are the felony charges?
Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders interviews forward-thinking people about the key questions of our time on The Laura Flanders Show, a nationally syndicated radio and television program also available as a podcast. A contributing writer to The Nation, Flanders is also the author of six books, including "Bushwomen: How They Won the White House for Their Man" (2005). She is the recipient of a 2019 Izzy Award for excellence in independent journalism, the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award for advancing women's and girls' visibility in media, and a 2020 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship for her reporting and advocacy for public media. lauraflanders.org
An attention grab that held millions of Americans transfixed. A story that seemed to be about life in the balance. It dominated the airwaves, the social networks, held Americans in its clutch. And then it turned out to have been nothing but a hoax. A play for attention that distracted the entire country.
Now that the Balloon Boy's story is blown, can we call out the health care hoax?
The anti-health care lobby is taking all our attention hostage. And a nation's hopes (and votes) for quality health care are floating away, leaving real lives in real danger.
If you're angry and feel played by the Heene family of Colorado, you'd better be furious at the private insurers.
If you want Richard Heene and his wife to be jailed and their kids taken into protective care - you better be fighting for all Americans to be taken out of the custody of abusive wealth-insurance companies.
We know now that the Heenes were smart about how to manipulate the media in part because they'd starred in two episodes of Wife Swap. Cigna, Aetna, United Health own the news. They and their guns-for-hire lobbyists underwrite just about every pseudo-news show. Call it "News Swap." (Theirs for the real stuff.)
And right now, with their House Republican pals they're planning to stop a health care bill by spending the next three weeks arguing over a phony-facts study that claims that the Democrats' measure will be a bad deal for small businesses, senior citizens, and women and children,"
At least the empty balloon that the Heene's floated was harmless. The anti-health care lobby is taking us all for a ride. Where is the sheriff when you need him? And where are the felony charges?
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