July 22nd, 2008
Have insurers tied their fate to Newt Gingrich?
The health insurance industry will launch a public relations campaign tomorrow called the Campaign for an American Solution which aims to create 100,000 grassroots activists supporting its vision of health care reform.
The group has bought itself some liberal cred with former Clinton HHS Secretary Donna Shalala giving it a thumbs-up and former John Edwards state dirctor Beth Leonard running the grassroots effort.
They hope to drown out the voices of Health Care for America Now, a liberal group launched July 8. That group calls the insurance group a sham.
But either the insurers have chosen an unfortunate name or they’re actually a Newt Gingrich front.
Since announcing he would not run for President last year, Gingrich has been building a number of policy campaigns around the American Solutions brand, which he launched formally in June.
All support Republican campaign themes, as in his campaign for energy independence through oil drilling. Most are also opaque on their sources of funding.
In his work Gingrich hopes to ape the tactics of the Netroots but, based on corporate donations, turn the technology around to the advantage of his own ideology and that of the people who support him.
On his own Web site, Gingrich recently outlined his plans to mandate health insurance for families with incomes over $75,000, using preventive care and technology to cut costs.
This last dovetails closely with the aims of Siemens, to whom Gingrich will speak in Las Vegas next week.
So did the health insurance industry just fail to research its own campaign brand or are they, in fact, acting as a Newt Gingrich front? They’re certainly using Gingrich’s tactics. If they’re not connected, Newt, I’d sue.
Unfortunately I don’t have the answer to my own question, yet. But the best way to get an answer is to ask a question out loud.
So I’m asking.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist since 1978, and has covered technology since 1982. He launched the Interactive Age Daily, the first daily coverage of the Internet to launch with a magazine, in September 1994. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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