The Raleigh News & Observer picked up on it. Then Associated Press picked up on it. FDL and Raw Story have spread the word, as well. Whether or not the altered outrageous BlueCross BlueShield anti-health care reform postcards make it to Democratic North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan's office ultimately, she is assuredly aware of the effort by angered North Carolinians to undermine B.C. B.S's effort to influence the senator.
Those who saw my previous diary may know how this is playing out, essentially B.C. B.S. gets its comeuppance and there is a live protest planned for Blue Cross offices tomorrow. For those who do not know the background on this story, the original diary on Monday explained how:
On Friday, in the mail I received a flyer from BlueCross BlueShield of NC that included a postcard that the addressee is invited to send along to North Carolina Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, the purpose, to let her know that the constituent is opposed to what the flyer refers to as "federal intervention in the private health insurance market." The spiel on the flyer (see below) draws an implied line from the public option to single-payer and refers to it a "slippery slope."
By Wednesday, many had commented that they had received the postcards and would alter them and send them in, and the above-mentioned journalism and Internet outlets had publicized both the action by Blue Cross and the reaction from Hagan constituents. Beth Silberman of Durham is quoted in the N&O article as saying that she "sort of bonkers. You're hostage to them, and then they pull this. My new premiums are funding lobbying against competition. It's pretty disgusting."
In my Monday diary, I explained my own reaction to the flyer showing up in my Friday mail:
When I picked out the flyer from my mail while standing at the kitchen counter, realized the wording on it, and realized what they were saying and expecting me to do, I literally shuddered with anger. "Fuckers," I said out loud (and I guess the cats were listening, too.)
Then - "don't get angry, do something"-style - I (realized) that the enclosed postcard could be altered to conversely subvert the intended purpose and that's what I did. I crossed out portions of the message, wrote in my own (see below), and and put it in the Saturday mail...
On Sunday, I saw on Democratic Underground that I was not alone in my reaction.
For the context of Blue Cross' corporate personhood rights-based behavior, as Sen. Hagan pointed out in a Charlotte Observer guest op/ed piece, "one in five North Carolinians has no health insurance. An additional 14,000 lose their coverage every day" (This does not include those who are underinsured and those who are afraid to use the insurance they have for fear of cancellation or premium increase.) Also necessary to be included in that context, NC BC B.S. CEO Bob Greczyn will make $3.9 million in salary and bonuses this year. (He is to retire next year, but retain the CEO title, if my memory is correct.)
You can see in the News & Observer and AP articles see that Blue Cross's PR response has been to spin this as "bad timing," which does not address the issue of whether they should have done this at all.
The response from many in the public, as indicated in the articles and comments sections, could be found to be similar to mine. Democratic Underground poster Lex was the first to show images of her converted / perverted / improved postcard.
Here is the story, told through the collected links, presented in reverse chronological order as best I could arrange, of the viral response and the coverage in the more "mainstream" press:
RAW STORY features a report by Daniel Tenser on their front page.
FIREDOGLAKE has a report from Health Care for America Now! blogger Jason Rosenbaum on the front page.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS picked up on The News & Observer of Raleigh's article.
THE NEWS & OBSERVER titled their article 'BCBS plea to customers on reform hits a nerve.'
DAILY KOS was the home of my diary with photos on how to subvert the intention of the obnoxious Blue Cross postcard on early Monday.
DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND poster Lex was the first to take the 'subvert the postcard' action to the activist Internet on Sunday, with photos.
HUFFINGTON POST on Saturday gave notice of the mailings.
NC POLICY WATCH BLOG was the first to publicize - a week ago - the Blue Cross mailing.
Raw Story quoted my DKos diary and featured Lex's photograph of her postcard. The FDL post featured my postcard. You can see photos of the front and back of the Blue Cross mailing in my original DKos diary.
There was some initial concern Monday that the altered postcards would not make it to the senator's Greensboro office, so the origianl DU poster Lex gave the office a call that day:
Some DUers expressed concern that Sen. Hagan's staff would just see that the postcard was from Blue Cross and Blue Shield and count it as an "against" the public option message without looking at the message I edited.
So, I just called Senator Hagan's office and talked with a very nice staffer there. She took my name and city of residence, and I explained the situation. I explained the pre-printed postcards they would soon be getting, and that many people were CHANGING the pre-printed message from BCBS, to one of SUPPORT of the Public Option and letting BCBS pick up the pre-paid postage.
She thought that was great (gave a laugh when I said BCBS would be paying the postage for my message), told me Sen. Hagan was for a Public Option, and assured me they would absolutely look at the message on the cards and sort and count them according to message.
If you are a constituent of Senator Hagan's please give a quick call in support of the public option. Her staffer was very nice.
Toll Free: 1-877-852-9462 or 202-224-6342.
The N&O and AP stories also included reaction from Sen. Hagan's office:
A spokesman in Hagan's office, David Hoffman, said the postcards have not yet begun arriving in the senator's office because of the mail screening process, but he said lots of people have been calling to voice outrage at the insurer's tactics.
Comments from the various links have been informative and entertaining:
"I'm still waiting for BC/BS to say, 'A single payer system would immediately lower costs by about 20 percent because you won't have to pay for the CEO or media blitzes to save his/her job/bonus.'"
"The liberals and progressives had better start calling out the blue dogs and that scum bag Lieberman in public. I’m sick of this polite bullshit! Harry Reid should print this story, call a news conference and bitch slap Lieberman with some facts."
"My wife and I are both in our late 50s and in good health. We have individual coverage from BCBS-NC, and with this latest increase our premiums will rise to $10,000 dollars in 2010 if we keep our coverage at the same level. As our premiums have increased over the past few years, we feel less like customers and more like victims of a protection racket. This attempt to enlist us to lobby Senator Hagan against the Public Option comes as no surprise. Only a parasitical company drunk off of the financial blood of its hosts would do something like this. What is now clear is that health insurance companies like BCBS are not really necessary for a health care system to work. They are the middlemen who take a big cut of the action and who have become far too powerful, but they are expendable. A single payer plan will effectively put them out of business, and deservedly so. I hope that one day in this country it will be done."
"Let us continue with the sinking ship analogy. A nasty pirate – call him Blue Beard of the Cross and Shield Clan – seized a ship by stupidly cutting a hole in it’s hull below the water line, the better to get aboard and start stealing from the passengers. He soon realizes his mistake as the ship starts listing. So he orders his hostages to start bailing with their hands. When that doesn’t seem to stop the sinking, Blue starts throwing passengers over board. Now at first, he tries to be reasonable about who he murders – tossing into the drink only those who have the most serious preexisting health problems, reasoning that they’ll die soon anyway. But soon he becomes more desperate and less discerning, and more and more hostages drown by the hands of his thugs. Now the government, which is very cowed by Blue, pleads with him to stop drowning passengers and offers to give him a 900-gallon-an-hour hydraulic pump to enable him to keep the ship afloat without throwing anyone else into the shark infested waters. Blue takes the pump in exhange for some vague promises regarding hostage welfare, but by that time the hole is taking on water at 850 gallons an hour and, even worse, it’s increasing in size and the amount of water flooding through it is increasing by 11% each hour.
Now, substitute gallons with billions of dollars and hours with years, and you’ve pretty much have our nation’ healthcare system. Oh, and the ship can only take on about 1500 gallons until it sinks."
I realize that this a small victory within this larger conflict of health care reform, which has degraded mostly into health insurance reform, but any victory that can symbolically represent to Americans the need for TRUE change to our system is a step toward that change. At the very least maybe I will curse within earshot of my cats a bit less.
Here's the info on Friday's protest of Blue Cross Blue Shield courtesy of http://healthcareforamericanow.org:
It is time for us to Protect the Public Option, Pressure Blue Cross into stop opposing reform, and Participate in actions here in North Carolina!
That's why we're writing to you. Blue Cross just sent a mailer out to its policyholders here in NC that includes a printed, pre-paid postcard to Senator Kay Hagan that opposes the Public Option. In response to this outrageous use of their customers' premium dollars, we're asking you all to take three actions:
- If you received this mailer from BCBS, please mark out in RED the words "Oppose government run healthcare" and write in RED "SUPPORT THE PUBLIC OPTION," mark out in RED "doesn't need" and write in RED "NEEDS." Then put the postage pre-paid revised card in the mail and call Senator Hagan's office to tell them that you have sent the Blue Cross card but in support of the Public Option.
- Please join us at 11:00 on Friday morning (October 30, 2009) at the BCBS headquarters to protest their greedy campaign against health care reform. We'll bring our Crime Scene yellow tape and a blown-up version of the postcard, have fun, and send a message to Blue Cross and to Washington that we are going to get health care reform in 2009 that serves our interest, not the insurance industry's.
The BCBS headquarters is at 1700 Chapel Hill Durham Blvd, Chapel Hill, NC.
- If you and your organization have your own list serve, please send this message along so that we can get as many cards to Senator Hagan's office as possible, and show a good crowd Friday morning at the Blue Cross headquarters to let them know how we feel.