Industry’s Anti-Medicare for All Spending Campaign Is Another Tangible Example of Its Contempt for America’s Families
Statement of Eagan Kemp, Health Care Policy Advocate, Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division
Note: The insurance and pharmaceutical industries are launching a seven-figure ad campaign against providing all Americans access to quality health care. The ads will begin tonight during breaks at the Democratic presidential debate, according to a press release. The ads will run on ABC News and Univision television stations during the debate, as well as on both networks’ digital properties.
This ad buy is more evidence that the companies profiting off our broken health care system are running scared. They see that Americans are sick of paying more for health care and getting less. They are tired of forgoing care or cutting pills in half. And all of this while Big Pharma, insurers and others, line their pockets and donate generously to politicians who refuse to stand up to them. These industries continue to take advantage of outsized profits and skyrocketing executive compensation at a time when 30 million Americans are uninsured and an additional 40 million cannot afford to use the coverage they have. Sadly, more and more Americans are depending on sites like GoFundMe to pay medical bills, something unheard of in every other comparably wealthy country.
The movement for Medicare for All continues to grow, both within Congress and across the country. By improving Medicare and expanding it to everyone in the U.S., Medicare for All would mean that people would get the care they need.
It’s too late for an industry PR campaign to thwart the will of the people, who in increasing numbers and with ever louder voices are demanding Medicare for All.