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Pat McCrory happily rides the crazy train

Post on August 6, 2009 by 6 Comments »

Someone — we do still have some media outlets in the state — should be holding McCrory accountable for associating himself with Americans for Prosperity, an industry-funded outfit that is spreading lies about health care across the state.

In one newsletter Americans for Prosperity describe how an elderly woman at a rally felt guilty for living. The letter continues:

You see, we had just detailed the “end of life” mandatory counseling provision of the Obama/Pelosi health care takeover for the crowd.

This “provision” that AFP shouts about at rallies is nonexistent. Right now if a Medicare recipient asks their doctor about power of attorney or appointing a health care proxy the doctor is not paid for having that conversation. Health reform legislation will reimburse doctors if they want to explain these legal and medical decisions to patients. To limit the expense, Medicare will only pay for one such conversation every five years, unless the patient’s health starts to deteriorate. Nothing is mandatory. Not even close.

If the companies that pay AFP want the organization to lie, that’s fine. But McCrory should be ashamed to participate. And news organizations (hello out there!) should aggressively hold him accountable.

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Comments (Closed):6

  1. Jonathan
    August 6, 2009 at 12:58 pm

    Adam, in reference to the ‘crazy train,’ are you suggesting that if an individual participates in opposing the current administration’s plans for health care reform that they are crazy or are you simply claiming anyone who associates themselves specifically with the AFP is crazy?

    Also, you mention spreading ‘lies’ about health care, but your article gives only one example. I don’t know much about the AFP’s claims on any end-of-life provisions, but would you please provide links with your quotes so that readers can get to the source of the claimed ‘misinformation’?

    Keep up the blogging!

    Thanks!

  2. Adam Linker
    August 6, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    AFP are a bit off-the-rails and McCrory is along for the ride. I don’t have a problem with opposing the administration.

    I’ll get up a link to the fundraising letter.

  3. Adam Linker
    August 6, 2009 at 2:35 pm

    If you read the AFP fundraising letter it’s pretty difficult to conclude that they mean it’s totally optional for seniors but a mandatory service provided by Medicare.

    That’s an especially difficult conclusion to reach when AFP rallies with Virginia Foxx who says this provision will put seniors to death.

    http://mediamattersaction.org/factcheck/200907280007

  4. Adam Linker
    August 6, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    And when the woman in our moving story says she feels guilty for living, why wouldn’t AFP explain to her that in fact the counseling is entirely optional and that no one wants her to die.

  5. Matthew Vincent
    August 6, 2009 at 10:48 pm

    I was about to set up a Live Blog for the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners meeting when I saw the shiny AFP Bus outside of the Government Center. Someone said that Mayor McCrory was going to speak there. I covered the rally instead. Posted some pics at my blog http://minifail.com. Now, at this rally, there was no mention of the non-existent provision from the speakers. However, plenty of people in the crowd were very frightened of the possibility of the government making decisions for them. The speakers did nothing to dispel this concern. It’s important to remember that although the bill clearly states that the gov’t will not be making decisions for people, many Americans believe it is the first step TOward that happening. The atmosphere was very hostile and the main speaker, Dallas Woodhouse (NC Director for AFP Patients First), certainly did everything he could to harness the crowd’s indignation.

  6. north state politics
    August 7, 2009 at 11:10 am

    Here’s a good link to correct the lies about health care reform.
    See what independent sources are saying in response to some of the statements being made about the House health care reform bill:

    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/jul/30/e-mail-analysis-health-bill-needs-check-/