Healthcarehorserace.com got to interview Lawrence Hunter the President and CEO of the Social Security Institute and a founder of the Patient Opt Out movement. Larry at The Social Security Institute came together with Political Media Inc to come up with the idea for the site, taking a key element for the site from the very successful National Do Not Call registry. The Social Security Institute is an organization that is focused on seniors, their care, their economics, and issues that affect them. They are joined on this site by Political Media Inc; this company is a new kind of company. The company focuses on: web design, public interest, political consultants, and public relations specialists all under one umbrella. Political Media Inc runs the website, set-up, upkeep, design, and e-mails. Even with these two groups behind the site, PatientOptOut.com has no corporate sponsor. It is run off small donations.
According to Dr. Hunter, the goal of the site is to get people together, to stand tall and strong, and to say, “No, I don’t want this new healthcare. And if it does pass, I want an opt out option.” The site attempts to counter what Dr. Hunter calls the president’s “momentum.” They are trying to “Derail the Obamacare Express” and cut the express off while there is still a chance. So they decided that this website would be the best way to show their protest.
The second goal that Dr. Hunter has set is rather lofty: to stop the Obama reform. They are proud to sport a nickname that is an adaption to “The Party of No” which was used to insult the Republican Party; the new and improved nickname: “The Movement of No.” It means that they won’t be taken in with pretty words that President Obama uses. They will, instead, stand up for their beliefs and say no to anything less. As healthcare reform is pushed through, many claim that doing something is better than doing nothing. But that’s not true according to Dr. Hunter and those at Patient Opt Out. For them, the system in place now, even with its many flaws, is better than the President’s idealized system.
When asked about the number of signors on the Patient Opt Out petition, Dr. Hunter said he was not sure of the exact number, but was certain that it was “in at least the thousands.” He also agreed that the site itself was a right of center, conservative project.
We discussed the site updates as well. He tries to update news, but gears the content toward seniors. He also blogs as often as he can about the issues at hand. But they are trying to focus on the Grand Generation Alliance. This is an alliance between the active old and the active youth. There is too much to do still though. There are not any “outside of the Internet” events yet, but Dr. Hunter says to keep a look out there may be some to come!
The main target audience is seniors for many reasons. Dr. Hunter has found, with the help of the Social Security Institute, that seniors are becoming more active in the fight against Obamacare. In some events seniors are the majority present. They tend to be more informed and more interested in healthcare issues because it will affect them the most in most cases. Seniors are angry with the government. They feel like their control of their government has gone and they are fighting to take it back. As Dr. Hunter explained, “Bring the government back to the people.”
The site may be targeted at seniors, but Dr. Hunter and those at Patient Opt Out want to get as many people involved from as many different age groups as possible. Simply, the more the merrier.
Obamacare, according to many experts, will destroy what is left of Medicare. Many seniors rely on Medicare to survive. They are calling for something similar to an aspect of Medicare where a coupon or annual stipend is given the individual to use in the open market. This would be for those who wish to opt out; so that all people can be insured still, but how they want not how the government decides. Dr. Hunter and the people at Patient Opt Out see the issues with healthcare and Medicare as being very similar issues and believe that the solutions will be very similar if not the same. So find the solution for Medicare and you have the solution for Healthcare, and vice versa. There should be no middle man or someone, like the government, in between the people, their insurance, and their healthcare. Dr. Hunter said that “prepaid healthcare” is being created by making insurance into this government run operation. Most people don’t understand the true economics behind healthcare and to leave the decisions in the hands of others, the government etc is just a bad idea.
Dr. Hunter asked a very important question though, “Why the rush?” and when we told him we did not know, he said it’s because people are panicking about the economy, so Obama has a prime shot at getting this passed. Dr. Hunter the Patient Opt Out people believe that we need to stop, breathe, focus on the real emergency: the economy, and then when that is stable again we can come back to healthcare. Because in all honesty, most people are essentially happy with their healthcare, sure there are complaints, but let’s get real. Here in America we are allowed to complain and we take fullest advantage of that right. We need to watch out for plans that sound good, but are really “healthcare redistribution programs,” ones that want to “level healthcare,” and the “rationing of healthcare” according to Dr. Hunter. He wanted to help me understand the extent of the healthcare issue by comparing Obamacare to Hilary Clinton’s Fortune 500 Healthcare reform. She promised to give great healthcare without raising taxes or blowing a whole in the deficit, and to reduce the amount of national income spent on Healthcare, basically she tried “putting a circle into a square, it can’t be done,” comments Dr. Hunter. He explained to me that as you listen to Obama he is never actually saying allowed what he thinks; he is “snowing” the public and isn’t saying something himself so that he can’t be questioned. I think that we can find that if we look back at the disaster Obamacare Infomercial on ABC. Obama is trying to speed it through while the other side and people like Larry are trying to prolong the time it is out so that people can see the issue and Obamacare for what they really are.
The last question we asked him was an important question, “Do you think that the Conservatives are doing as well as the Democrats online?” His answer: “No, by no stretch of the imagination.” The conservatives have a huge disadvantage this time around. So much has changed; one is that Obama is a better public speaker than Hilary. The conservatives had more money last time to spend on fighting Hilary, but with the economy down, there is not as much money that can be spent on fighting Obamacare. Also the healthcare industry is no longer really on the side of the conservatives, they want to find the best deal and that is with the Democrats. According to Dr. Hunter what we see in the media is just theatrics to make everything look good, but in reality everything important is going on behind closed doors and what we see is what happens between the rooms. Big government and Big industry are working together to basically create a healthcare cartel of sorts. Government and Industry will control the market, the quality, ration quantity and supply, and regulate care on consumers and providers. It has happened in the past here in America. The issue is that more money is needed to get the word out about the truth. If the real message gets out, according to Larry, the people will rise up and force the slow down. But it’s not happening yet, so right now Obama is getting the closest anyone has gotten with a 50-50% chance of getting it passed. Scary.
Tags: Obamacare, Patient Opt Out, public-option, Seniors
