Why Are they Lying to Us?
Thank you, Governor Paterson
Responding to the health care union and hospital association’s ubiquitous—and misleading— ad campaign bashing Governor Paterson’s much-needed health care reforms, Housing Works hit back with its own ad setting the record straight.
The Housing Works ad ran Tuesday through Friday during Fred Dicker’s morning radio program on Talk 1300 in Albany and noted “Governor Paterson’s plan to reform health care would expand the number of New Yorkers getting medical care. Governor Paterson’s health care plan would save New York $2.4 billion dollars and end Medicaid waste.”
The ad was a takeoff on one of the most-publicized anti-Paterson spots. With somber piano music and strings in the background, the ad by 1199 S.E.I.U. United Healthcare Workers East and the Greater New York Hospital Association poses the questions to Governor Paterson, “Why are you doing this to me? Why? Why are you doing this?” With music similar in style playing in the background, the Housing Works ad poses the questions, “Why are they lying? Why are they lying to us? Why are the hospital worker’s union and hospital association lying to New Yorkers about Governor Paterson’s health care reforms?,” causing quite the stir in Albany.
Watch the orginal ad below, and listen to Housing Works’ ad here.
While Housing Works doesn’t have the multi-million dollar budget of the big health care unions and hospitals, as the Daily News’s Elizabeth Benjamin noted, “it’s something. And it demonstrates that Paterson isn’t completely without allies in this battle.”
“The [1199 and GNYHA] ads distort the facts and distract attention from the real problem: a health care system that costs too much and fails to provide New Yorkers with the care they need,” said State Medicaid Director Deborah Bachrach.
Contrary to the hospital union and hospital association claims, Paterson’s health care reforms would actually improve the quality of health care for New Yorkers. The Governor’s health care reforms would shift hundreds of millions of dollars away from hospitals toward front-line community care.
While the hospitals and nursing homes that don’t serve most poor people would see their Medicaid payments decrease—hence the smear campaign against the Governor—Paterson’s plan would actually expand the number of people who qualify for health care and make it easier for people to receive care in community clinics in their neighborhoods. Both community-based organizations and hospitals that serve the highest numbers of poor people would see payments increased based on the number of patients they serve. Read more about the benefits of Paterson’s reforms.
Patients first
In fact the unions’ scare tactics were criticized by both the New York Times and the New York Post. And health care advocates not associated with the big hospitals and nursing homes also express support for Paterson’s reforms.
“The unions’ ads only tell the health budget story from one perspective and one interest in mind—the interest of the status quo,” said Lara Kassel, the advocacy coordinator of Medicaid Matters, a group representing Medicaid consumers. “We want to make sure money is always spent with the consumer in mind and that people remember that Medicaid isn’t a funding stream for anything other than providing care for people who need it.”
Posted on February 12, 2009 at 4:26 am
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