August 11, 2009: Anti-Reform Group Sends ‘Brutal’ Mailer Claiming Government Would Deny Seniors Needed Care

Header from the mailer sent out by 60+, depicting four senior citizens apparently suffering from lack of health care. [Source: 60+ / Plum Line]The “60 Plus Association” (60+), a conservative anti-health care reform organization, sends out what Washington Post commentator Greg Sargent calls a “brutal” mailer to Nebraska residents, depicting photos of senior citizens apparently suffering from various untreated ailments and making the questionable claim that health care reform would be funded by $500 million in Medicare cuts. 60+ is leading a media push against the Democrats’ reform package by claiming that the government would institute so-called “death panels” (see Shortly Before August 10, 2009). Sargent writes: “This is kind of a new frontier in the scare campaign targeting old folks: It links the prediction of drastic Medicare cuts to the widely-debunked claim that health care reform will lead to mass government euthanasia of the elderly” (see November 23, 2008, January 27, 2009, February 9, 2009, February 11, 2009, February 18, 2009, May 13, 2009, June 24, 2009, June 25, 2009, July 10, 2009, July 16, 2009, July 17, 2009, July 21, 2009, July 23, 2009, July 23, 2009, July 23, 2009, July 23-24, 2009, July 24, 2009, July 28, 2009, July 28, 2009, July 28, 2009, July 31, 2009 - August 12, 2009, August 6, 2009, August 7, 2009, August 10, 2009, August 10, 2009, and August 11, 2009). The mailer repeats the widely discredited claim that the government could deny you treatment even if “you and your doctor insist on them,” and quotes President Obama as saying during one “town hall” forum, “Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller.” Sargent notes: “Taken out of context, the comment sounds like a callous declaration to a patient that he or she should suck it up and forget about getting needed care. In fact, Obama was actually discussing the difficulties inherent in helping the elderly make good medical decisions.” [Plum Line, 8/11/2009]