Even though we did our twice-yearly clock screw up last weekend, I was up early enough Sunday morning to watch Face the Nation. At the beginning of the show, Bob Schieffer introduced his two guests: the head honcho of an organization representing insurance companies and a US congresswoman from Florida. Bob Schieffer asked the health insurance woman a question, which she addressed – I wouldn’t use the word answer – with a lot of talking points and platitudes about how the insurance companies are really quite committed to reform and in doing their best to help people. Then the floor was turned over to the congresswoman, who was beamed in from Arizona. She got a few good ones in, I thought. I honestly don’t know what I think of the latest push for healthcare reform. I am beyond confused as to what is implied by being in favor of or against, which I think is a good sign that the lobbyists are doing their jobs and doing them well. One of the things the congresswoman said was that it struck her as curious that if the insurance industry comes to the debate in such a spirit of partnership and collaboration, why is it spending millions of dollars for aggressive commercials aired in districts where representatives remain undecided? The smarmy health insurance woman appeared on the screen, in the lower corner, pawing at her earpiece: Ooops, there were audio problems, and she couldn’t hear the question, so Bob Schieffer repeated it, minus the part about the commercials. So the health insurance woman – saved by the audio problem – crooned through a list of messages and talking points that I would imagine were crafted by PR people with spectacular health insurance benefits. I have absolutely no idea what went on in the studio that morning. I know nothing about audio and video equipment. I do know that the woman representing the health insurance industry on Sunday morning got a big old pass on what I think is one of the most important questions: how much money is the industry willing to spend to make sure it can continue to serve itself? That part of the discussion didn’t happen on Sunday morning, because by the time the audio issues were resolved it was time for a commercial break.
