Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Despicable US Healthcare Commercial - Not Right!

CNN and Fox News are what used to be called propoganda media outlets in less developed countries. Their bias is very apparent when you compare it with more objective reporting services in other western countries.

The Canadian system is far from perfect but it does work. Just this week an old friend of mine was diagnosed with advanced brain cancer and he was operated on within 48 hours. This long delay and forced trip to a US hospital is a myth IMO. Needless to say he didn't have to morgage his home or empty his wallet.

On the other hand, it disturbs me when I vacation in Florida to see seniors who should be enjoying their retirement years taking low level jobs in order to pay for a spouse's medical or drug bills. I've often thought that the measure of a society is how it treats its underprivileged, like children and seniors.

Thanks Golden, I looked for the commercial on you tube but couldn't find it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWxcv0Dummk

I don't think CNN had anyting to do with the production of it. They were just the network that ran it. I suppose it could have just a easily been on any of the other networks.

This woman is wacked. When she says she went to the the US and got "world class medical care" it makes it sound like we are still in the stone age here in Canada. This is like a huge slap in the face of all the people that work at University hospital in London, or McMaster in Hamilton, or Sunnybrook in Toronto, or any of the other world recognized healt care facilities in Canada.

What people will do for money, I bet she'd sell her own grandmother if she could get a buck of two.

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CNN is ultimately responsible for the commercial. As a network they decide what they choose to show. Conveniently it fits their political agenda. Thats my point.

Folk's, CNN is not behind the commercial. They simply sell air time to those who can afford it. In the case of the commercial in question, the sponsor is listed as Patients United Now.

" Patients United Now (or PUN for short!), is a front group for Americans for Prosperity, a group behind the lobbyist-funded tea parties last month. Even though on PUN’s website they claim that they are “people just like you,” they are actually just corporate-funded lobbyists: Source"

" After orchestrating and funding the so-called Tea Parties movement, Americans for Prosperity — a nationwide front group founded and funded by the right-wing polluter Koch Industries — is launching an ad campaign characterizing President Obama’s effort to reform the health care system as a government take-over that will ration care and care and deny treatments.

Americans for Prosperity is notorious for its fake grassroots efforts, funneling millions of dollars into conservative campaigns designed to undermine Democratic initiatives.

Now, operating under the name Patients United Now, Americans for Prosperity — which is mostly funded by large multinational corporations — is masquerading as an organic grassroots movement outraged over the Presidents health care proposals:
" Source

So, to all our Canadian friends, please remember that this ad is about MONEY! It does not represent the views of CNN, nor does it represent the views of a consensus of the American people. Many of us find this practice as deplorable as you do. More importantly, most of us just don't buy it.

Rebuttal

We all have every right to be angry about this practice and this ad. But, let's direct our anger at the real culprits -
PATIENTS UNITED NOW, AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY, KOCH INDUSTRIES, and CORPORATE-FUNDED LOBBYISTS MASQUERADING AS "JUST PLAIN FOLKS" .

Please don't let them off the hook because you don't like CNN.

Totally agree.

Adbusters has a very hard time getting a 30 sec. TV spot on CNN and other networks, because they don't conform with their agenda etc.

A balanced commentary by Canadians regarding the misleading US ads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88KmmR4d5Ig&feature=related

Sorry Jack, that's not true. Anyone can come up with their own commercial and money to promote it, but it is completely up to the discretion of the station to play it.

Adbusters was also turned down on my local news station, and they're constantly calling for fairness, and freedom of speech in media.

I agree Jakeman

I always wondered about the ethics of a society that not only accepts, but promotes the massive profiting off the sick. I don’t mean the doctors and nurses and other people on the front line of our medical systems. These people are worth every penny and more. I am talking about the managers and CEO’s that are taking home many millions of dollars by denying a basic human right to people because they have pre existing condition, or can’t afford the coverage they need. You might expect this from a 3rd world country in Africa. Not the so called “best country in the world” go old USA.

I still remember in the early 90’s when George Bush Sr. made his speech that “if any American wanted a government run health care system they should ask a Canadian”. I always wondered why more Americans didn’t ask Canadians.

I wish it were that black and white, but it's not. But, for the sake of argument, let's assume you are correct and that CNN ran it because it "fit's their agenda." I'm in no way defending CNN. Feel free to bash them if you wish. But, please don't allow the focus of your anger to be on CNN rather than on those who create this BS and pay for it. It is they who deserve our censure and our disgust.

PATIENTS UNITED NOW, AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY, KOCH INDUSTRIES, and CORPORATE-FUNDED LOBBYISTS MASQUERADING AS "JUST PLAIN FOLKS" .

Don't let them off the hook while you shoot the messenger (even in it deserves to be shot).

Also, I have been through quite a bit with the health care system, and have had an overall good experience.

A perfect, recent example: I went to see a wound specialist in Toronto on the 8th, and she ordered some tests for me. I ended up getting an appointment for an x-ray, CAT scan, and a bone scan (to rule out osteomyelitis) the next week (last Friday). After those tests, the x-ray tech wanted me to come back again on Monday (yesterday) to have a gallium scan (more detail bone scan), and a ultrasound on my kidneys and bladder.

Not a bad system in my books. Although I wasn't too enthusiastic about having nuclear medicine in me for four days.