Just when you think HCR can't sink much lower you find something like this. Yep, AHIP et al exploited gamers on Face Book and My Space by trading virtual currency for them agreeing to sending an "I'm against HCR" email directed to a Senator or House Member's email.
The email says:
"I am concerned a new government plan could cause me to lose the employer coverage I have today. More government bureaucracy will only create more problems, not solve the ones we have."
What damage can these emails do?
Plenty!
Does your Congressional member or Senator know about these spam factories?
Ok, so astroturfing is not new or even particularly creative these days, but geez.
The Get Health Reform Right.org site is down. The statement says it's due to "unauthorized use of their name and logo". Gambit, the company facilitating the astroturfing is backpedaling and saying they don't usually go for political issues, but "something could have slipped through". Their site is giving a 404 error right now. It does "look like" these emails are no longer being sent to Congress, but I have to wonder, how many emails went through before this week. Ok, maybe it isn't totally nefarious...naw, it is. These guys knew exactly what they were doing. They just positioned themselves for plausible deniability.
Make no mistake, Get Health Reform Right is a BCBS project. AHIP has had input into it too. Before the site went down, this is what you saw under the "Who We Are Page":
* Association of Health Insurance Advisors
* America’s Health Insurance Plans
* American Benefits Council
* BlueCross BlueShield Association
* Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers
* Healthcare Leadership Council
* Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers
* National Association of Health Underwriters
* National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors
* National Retail Association
Yep, that's AHIP and BCBS. It's a revolting, shameless exploitation of people who are more interested in playing Mafia Wars and Farmville than making a political statement. As explained by The Consumerist:
Don't want to fork over actual cash or start a shady "free" trial in order to get sweet, sweet virtual currency for your favorite game on Facebook or MySpace? Well, you could always take a health care survey that pays you to tell your representatives in Congress how opposed you are to health care reform. Mmm, smell that astroturf!
Mark Pincus, the CEO of Mafia Wars! is in it for the buck. He openly boasts of being a scammer. Most of the gamer savvy commentators on G4TV and the Business Insider surmise the gamers, in pursuit of "free" playing time, aren't looking at their clicks. Take a health care survey, get more playing time....and subvert Health Care Reform at the same time. Talk about multi-tasking!
Chances are that some of the same people who went for this ploy don't agree with the sentiment in the email they sent to Congress. Some are no doubt uninsured and underemployed. This is picked up by MediaMattersAction too. What we need to do is counter these emails and bring it to our Congressional member's attention.
Something like:
Dear Senator if you received an email saying this:
"I am concerned a new government plan could cause me to lose the employer coverage I have today. More government bureaucracy will only create more problems, not solve the ones we have."
You should be aware that it was in exchange for getting free internet game plays. It was perpetrated by an organization created by Blue Cross Blue Shield and has AHIP as a member.
Then follow up with a statement like:
For the record, I don't know why we need private insurance companies. What do they bring to the table? They cover less and less health care every year they increase my premiums.
chrisfs put up a diary about this a few hours ago, but it slipped off the page. You can go and rec it up. I think this needs some action of our own.