Boxer Television Advertisement Addresses Health Care Reform
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Tuesday as part of her re-election campaign began airing a television advertisement that "taps into a kitchen table issue -- health care," the Orange County Register reports.
In the ad, Boxer says, "HMO bureaucrats are overruling the doctors. It takes you months to get an appointment. And dealing with insurance companies can be a nightmare. It's time for a real patients' bill of rights, so that health care decisions are made by our doctors, not bureaucrats."
Boxer adds, "Let's make health insurance tax deductible and get seniors real help with their drug costs. To me, it's basic. People ought to be able to get good health care without going bankrupt."
According to the Register, the ad -- which is running in the Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco markets -- also does "something that has become fashionable -- bashing HMOs." However, the Register reports that "there is no empirical evidence" that long waits to see physicians are a "rampant problem" for California residents.
Citing the passage of the new Medicare law -- which will provide prescription drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries beginning in 2006 -- the Register reports that "like most Democrats, Boxer has called it flawed and incomplete" (Bunis, Orange County Register, 10/13).