Coalition for Responsible Healthcare Reform

The Coalition for Responsible Healthcare Reform (CRHR) is a front group created in 2007 by Blue Cross of California, the state's largest insurance company. The group's website is registered by the insurance company.

History
In May 2007, the Associated Press and other publications reported that Blue Cross had "set aside $2 million for what is likely to be a deep-pocketed campaign to undermine the health care reforms being pushed by Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger."

CRHR opposes proposals by California elected officials that would require insurers to sell policies to everyone, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions. It has run advertisements comparing healthcare reform to the electricity deregulation that created power outages in California and contributed to the Enron financial scandal. "Remember how the rash deregulation of the energy market in California spawned power outages and soaring rates? Let's not go there again," the ads say.

Rebecca Elgie of the Tompkins County Health Care Task Force in Ithaca, New York, an organization that advocates universal healthcare, commented that she was "shocked by the underhanded practice of the for-profit health insurance industry. If you came across an organization called 'Coalition for Responsible Healthcare Reform,' what would you expect? Even after working all these years on reform I would expect a coalition ready to do the right thing and represent reform that would do away with the injustice of the American health care system; something that would stop the tragedy of going bankrupt because of health care bills. But instead the coalition called 'Coalition for Responsible Healthcare Reform' is misleading and will do nothing of the sort."

The public relations firm working for Blue Cross/CRHR is Goddard Claussen.

Contact information
Coalition for Responsible Healthcare Reform 455 Capitol Mall, Suite 801 Sacramento, CA 95814-4433 916-325-0056 Email: info AT responsiblereform.com Website: http://www.responsiblereform.com