The GOP’s Latest Dirty Trick – A Fake California Covered Healthcare Website by Niki2

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The GOP’s Latest Dirty Trick – A Fake California Covered Healthcare Website

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Wednesday, December 4, 2013 09:56
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Wednesday, December 4, 2013 9:56 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Starting in mid-November, Republican members of the California State Assembly began sending out mailings to CA residents. The mailings, titled “Covering California, A Resource Guide,” are meant to steer people away from the state’s real healthcare exchange, pointing them instead to a fake healthcare website.

Quote:
The California Republican Assembly has come under attack this week for CoveringHealthCareCA.com, which critics claim is a “deceptive” website meant to dissuade Californians from signing up on the state health care exchange.

Though it launched in August, the site made waves this week after a number of GOP Assembly members sent out mailers to their constituents, highlighting the page as a “resource guide” for information on the Affordable Care Act.

Sabrina Demayo Lockhart, communications director for the Assembly GOP Caucus, told ABC News that the goal of the site was informational. “It’s a complex law, and we wanted to make sure our constituents had the tools to understand what this law meant for them.”

But many are equating the site, whose URL resembles the official California insurance exchange site (CoveredCa.com), to the onslaught of fake insurance sites popping up in the state — 10 of which were shut down by Calif. Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris in November – since the implementation of Obamacare.

“It’s outrageous that our elected officials in California are using taxpayer dollars to intentionally mislead their constituents and divert them from CoveredCA.com,” said Dr. Paul Song, executive chairman of the progressive California-based group Courage Campaign, in a released statement. “Republicans in Sacramento have wasted taxpayer dollars building a fake website in an attempt to sow confusion and fear, in a futile attempt to discredit the law.”

Following backlash the site was updated this week, the L.A Times reported, to include a direct link to the official Covered California website. California’s state health care exchange has been a leader in successful sign-ups, with higher enrollment figures than the federal Obamacare exchange. In the first two weeks of November, the state had already exceeded October figures significantly. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/12/california-republicans-de
fend-fake-obamacare-site/]

The misleading flier “Covering California,” which directs people to the fake healthcare website, was also paid for by the state’s taxpayers. The flier is clearly marked with a standard mailing label, “US postage paid California State Assembly.”

The flier is meant to mislead voters about the ACA.

The mailing itself gives constituents bad information. For instance, it claims that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) contains “18 separate tax increases, estimated to cost taxpayers $503 billion dollars between 2010 and 2019.” The flier does not mention that the majority of new taxes will be paid by the medical and pharmaceutical industries, not the average taxpayer. It also does not mention the $5,548 tax credit that an average taxpayer will get, to help offset the cost of health insurance.

But the purpose of the mailer isn’t to educate. It is to mislead. More importantly, the flier is being used to direct people to the fake healthcare website, instead of the state’s real healthcare exchange.

The flyer says: "The federal law is complex. For more information regarding your particular situation visit coveringhealthcareCA.com." The big problem is that coveringhealthcareCA.com is nothing but a propaganda website. The fake healthcare website provides no helpful information on what a person can do to follow the law. What it does provide is a lot of links to slanted articles about the Affordable Care Act. It features op-eds with lively titles such as “You Also Can’t Keep Your Doctor,” and “news” pieces such as “Children’s Advocates Say New Dental Plan Not That Filling After All.”

And it’s not just that CA republicans are steering people away from the state’s real exchange to this fake healthcare website. It’s worse, because they created this website, and they used public resources to do it. The fake healthcare website is registered to Sabrina Lockhart. Lockhart works as the Communications Director and Press Secretary for CA Republican Assembly Leader, Connie Conway. The website was created using the State Assembly’s address. The phone number on the registration is for the public office of Assembly woman Conway.

Republicans have tried everything in their power to keep the ACA from taking effect. After more than 40 attempts to repeal the law, a failed Supreme Court challenge and a full blown shut down of the US government, they did not succeed. They tried to sabotage the law in every way possible, up to and including a “Destroy Obamacare” program, which was supposed to bring down the national ACA website.

What’s left for them now, except to create a fake healthcare website? They’ll try whatever they can to try to keep people from getting to the truth and then signing up for the ACA.

Misleading voters, billing taxpayers for right wing propaganda, using every kind of deceptive tactic they can think of… there’s really nothing new here. It’s habitual for the party that has no other options left. They can’t stand on the truth. Voters would never accept GOP policies if they were offered at face value. They can only hope that their low information base doesn’t catch on before the next election.

Quote:
Congresswoman Hahn Calls on California Assembly GOP to Take Down Deceiving Health Care Website

WASHINGTON, DC--Today, Congresswoman Janice Hahn (CA-44) released the following statement regarding the fake healthcare website being circulated by California GOP Assemblymembers, calling for the website's removal:

"I am appalled by the so-called civil servants who have stooped to confusing and misleading Californians who are trying to get health insurance.

While CoveringCaliforniaHealthCareCA.com sounds very similar to our legitimate state exchange site, CoveredCA.com, it is completely unrelated. The unhelpful website seems to be little more than an attempt by Affordable Care Act opponents to undermine the law's success and prevent people who need health coverage from getting it. I urge all Californians looking for affordable health care to visit CoveredCA.com and be on the lookout for fake sites.

I call on the GOP members of the California State Assembly to take down this website immediately. Assembly Republicans should be focusing their resources on helping Californians, not deceiving the people they represent for political gain.

CoveredCA.com is the most successful health care exchange website in the nation. The site has outpaced every other state in the country by allowing more than 80,000 Californians to enroll in private health care plans since October 1st. The Affordable Care Act is proving to be life-changing for millions of Californians. It is about time the law's opponents drop the unscrupulous tactics that are only hurting Californians, and work with us to make the law as successful as possible." http://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/2013/12/04/congresswoman-hahn-cal
ls-on-california-assembly-gop-to-take-down-deceiving-healt-a-431685.html#.Up9CF02A3ct

Obviously we're getting too successful for them.

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