So, I have seen this commercial a couple of times during cable news broadcasts lately and have been stunned by it. It starts with a display of lovely eclectic jewelry, with a voice over that says "I'm an artist." A young, attractive woman appears on the screen . "Last year, I had a severe asthma attack and ended up in the hospital for 6 days. The bill was over $17,000!" Did you think, as I did, that this is an ad for Universal Health Insurance? Guess again below the fold.
"I didn't know what to do. No way could I come up with $17,000. Then I called my credit card company. They helped me arrange a payment plan. I don't know what I would have done without them." This is an ad for a credit card company! So, the message is, if your health insurance leaves you with bills you can't pay, no worries, you can put them on your credit card at 30% interest and pay for the rest of your life. What a wonderful system! The credit card companies win, the inurance companies win, and the health care industry wins. Can you spot the loser?
It struck me that some creative Kossack could make a really great ad from this merely by superimposing the amount this woman would pay for her 6 days in the hospital over the image of her talking about how the credit card company saved her. You could also hit the insurance companies by asking just why she has $17,000 in bills. She obviously has insurance or her bill would be a lot more than that, and she probably pays through the nose for it.
They are so greedy and clueless, they don't even know when they're giving themselves away.