HHS Propaganda Accounts for 60% of Pro-Obamacare Ads
The Los Angeles Times reports today on the status of ad wars regarding the unpopular health care law – an article which includes this striking passage:
The lack of advertising in support of the bill is made even more prevalent by the fact that the Department of Health and Human Services accounts for 60% of pro-healthcare reform spending. With $46 million split among national campaigns ($29 million), cable ($14 million) and smaller buys in urban areas ($3 million), that leaves a mere $30 million spent over 3 1/2 years by every other pro-healthcare reform group nationwide.
Apparently, when this Administration complains about “corporate interests” in politics, their “solution” involves using taxpayer dollars to engage in advertising campaigns promoting a law the American people don’t want.
As a reminder, here are just some of the other wasteful projects HHS has used taxpayer dollars to fund:
- $20 million to a PR firm for a publicity campaign promoting Obamacare’s benefits
- $26 million in grants to Ogilvy Public Relations included in the “stimulus” to establish a “Publicity Center”
- $18 million to send a mailing to seniors purportedly touting the “benefits” of Obamacare to seniors. The Government Accountability Office found that the mailer – which was NOT reviewed or approved by the non-partisan Medicare actuary for its accuracy – “overstates some of [the law’s] benefits” and “presents a picture of [the law] that is not universally shared.”
- $3 million in taxpayer funds to run an ad campaign in which Andy Griffith took on the role of “pitching President Barack Obama’s health care law to seniors.” The non-partisan factcheck.org concluded that the ads used “weasel words” to mislead seniors about the impact of the health care law.
- Millions more in taxpayer funds to fund 4 million postcards promoting Obamacare’s small business tax credit – which the Government Accountability Office recently concluded was convoluted and ineffective.
With spending projects like these, is it any wonder that the federal government is running trillion-dollar deficits?