On
the effort to discredit Michael Moore by health insurance industry, from Deadly Spin chapter 4* - "The Campaign Against Sicko"
"APCO,
a D.C. PR firm, worked behind the scenes to 'reframe the debate. They set up a
front group called 'Health Care America' who tested the phrase ‘government
takeover.’
After the release of Sicko, Health
Care America, a "non-partisan non-profit health care advocacy organization
released the following statement: 'The
reality is government run health systems around the world are failing
patients, forcing them to forgo treatments or seek out of pocket care in other
countries.' Sicko made $20 million as
opposed to $125 million made by Fahrenheit 9/11. APCO had succeeded in getting their talking
points into most of the stories that appeared about the movie.
“AND
NOT A SINGLE REPORTER had done enough investigative work to find out that
insurers had provided the lions’ share of funding to set up Health Care
America.” [CofA emphasis]
-Kay Ebeling
* Quotes are from Deadly spin : an insurance company insider speaks out on how corporate PR is killing health care and deceiving Americans
Author: Wendell Potter