Healthcare: Former Health Industry "SpokesJerk" turns Whistleblower
EconomicDemocracy Coop
Industry “Spokesjerk” Andy Cobb Calls for Public Healthcare
As House Democrats prepare to vote on their version of a healthcare
reform bill this weekend, a man who used to be the face of Blue Cross
Blue Shield of Florida decided he’s had enough with the way the health
insurance industry is impeding reform. Actor and comedian Andy Cobb
used to promote Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida. But now he’s broken
with his former employer and is speaking out against the entire
private health insurance industry that has strongly opposed any
government-run health plan. [includes rush transcript]
Guest: Andy Cobb, Actor and comedian. He was the former television
spokesperson for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida.
JUAN GONZALEZ: As House Democrats prepare to vote on their version of
a healthcare reform bill this weekend, a man who used to be the face
of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida decided he’s had enough with the
way the health insurance industry is impeding reform. Actor and
comedian Andy Cobb used to promote Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida.
But now he’s broken with his former employer and is speaking out
against the entire private health insurance industry that has strongly
opposed any, quote, “government-run health plan.”
Andy Cobb teamed up with Brave New Films to create this video,
released Thursday.
ANDY COBB: Hey, Stretchy, what are you paying for health
insurance?
Well, how much are you paying a month in diapers?
Do you have twenty bucks in your pocket? Then you can afford our
Blue Options insurance policy.
DIRECTOR: And cut. Now slate.
ANDY COBB: Hi, my name’s Andy, and I sell health insurance.
Blue Options has just added a bunch of lower…
I was a spokesman for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida.
Call me a “spokesjerk.” We’re people who make money by selling you
things that you don’t need, and we’re telling you lies.
It’s cheaper than your cell phone bill.
Sure, if your cell phone bill is $400 a month. American
healthcare is a mess, and everybody knows it. But no matter how bad it
gets, insurance companies trot out their spokesjerks to charm into
buying their insurance and avoiding a public option.
ASSISTANT: We’re ready for Andy.
ANDY COBB: They, by which I mean “I,” make money by standing in
the way of reform. It’s time for change. That’s why I’m calling on
leaders of the spokesjerk industry—the freecreditreport.com guy, the
ShamWow dude, and Senator Bill Nelson, recipient of big money from
insurance companies—to lead us, to walk away from their cash cows and
tell the American people the truth.
And us spokesjerks, we’ll be fine. There’s plenty of room in
entertainment for someone who once tried to sell you the worst product
in American history: private health insurance.
AMY GOODMAN: That says “Fired” after, for our radio listeners. A new
video released Thursday by Brave New Films, featuring the former
spokesperson for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida.
Well, Andy Cobb joins us now from Los Angeles.
We welcome you to Democracy Now! Talk about your time—your first
experiences, why you became the Marlboro Man of Blue Cross Blue
Shield, and how you changed.
ANDY COBB: Well put. You know, actors are people who lie to you.
That’s our job. And what one does is one auditions for work, and one
hopes one gets work. And one doesn’t really spend much time,
generally, thinking about what you’re advertising.
I did do work for Blue Cross for quite awhile. It became apparent,
eventually, that it was something that I needed to disassociate myself
from, for reasons both political and personal. Politically, I think
we’re at that time, aren’t we? Dennis Kucinich, the adorablest little
congressman of them all, said it very well recently. He said, “This is
the time when we have to say, ‘Which side are you on? The insurance
companies or the American people?’” And for too long, I’ve been on the
wrong side of that. And if Senator Lieberman can change his mind to go
from the right side of this issue to the wrong side, I figure a
schmuck actor like me can change his mind and go from the wrong side
to the right side.
JUAN GONZALEZ: I’m interested, the reaction of Blue Cross and Blue
Shield. Did you get a chance to tell them directly about your change
of heart? And what their reaction was?
ANDY COBB: We have not spoken. We don’t have that sort of a
relationship. But I’m guessing that I won’t be invited to the holiday
party this year.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Did your agent try to dissuade you about the lost
revenue?
ANDY COBB: There was some discussion along those lines. And, you know,
he’s—and my agent is a good guy. And, you know, I didn’t meet any bad
people at Blue Cross, to be honest. It would go a lot better with sort
of the progressive narrative, I suppose, if it did—if I had, but
that’s not the case. You know, I met nothing but nice folks. But
they’re in a monstrous system that really doesn’t work for Americans.
I’ve had a lot of personal contact with this recently, this year. As a
comic, I did a benefit for my friend Alicia, who had breast cancer
and, because she made the mistake of getting breast cancer while being
covered by Blue Cross of California, needed comics to raise money for
her healthcare. My friend James, whose mother was—got breast cancer
while she was covered by Blue Cross of California, is now going
bankrupt, so we had a benefit for them. So we’re essentially relying
on comics to do the work of a medical insurance industry. And I
wouldn’t trust comics with a lawn mower, much less a medical system.
So it became very apparent that I had to disassociate myself.
AMY GOODMAN: So, why should we believe you now, Andy?
ANDY COBB: Well, it’s a good question. I was well paid by Blue Cross,
of course, to say what was scripted for me. To write what I wrote,
which was that piece, and to do it for Brave New Films, I was—I was
paid. I was paid the union minimum, which is minimum wage. And suffice
it to say, it’s a significant pay cut.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And speaking of comics, what’s your reaction to how the
healthcare legislation is proceeding in the House and Senate?
ANDY COBB: Well, it’s comical. It’s unfortunate right now that we’re
in a situation where it doesn’t look like we’ve got a real robust
public option on the table, although it’s unfortunate, I think, that
we’re calling it a “robust public option.” It sounds like we’re being
sold TV dinners. My friend John Aravosis had a funny line; he said,
“The only other thing that they focus-tested was a ‘buxom public
option,’ and that didn’t test well.” But hopefully we’ll get a robust
public option. That seems to be the thing that can give us a real
option other than these private insurance companies that are doing
America and their clients absolutely no good.
AMY GOODMAN: Andy Cobb, the conversations you had with Blue Cross Blue
Shield, or did you, when you were actually doing the commercials, did
they come in? And did actually any say to you, when you’re just sort
of behind the scenes, that they didn’t believe what you were saying,
either?
ANDY COBB: No. You know, it’s—to be honest, there was no discussion
like that. It’s a very sort of surface conversation. There was very
little discussion about the issues. One could say these are people
doing their jobs. And, you know, it’s—as I say, I don’t think these
people who work for Blue Cross are monsters, but it’s a monstrous
system, and it has to be changed.
I would invite my fellow spokesjerks to stop what they’re doing and
cross the line, as I said in the video. I would like for other people
to do the same. Maybe it’s time for people like myself, Joe Lieberman
and the Aflac duck to find honest jobs.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Is there an association of spokesjerks, as you say? Do
they have conferences regularly?
ANDY COBB: The ASJ? Yeah, me and the GEICO lizard and that guy who
goes, “That’s Allstate’s stand,” get together every now and then and
have drinks, but no formal organization.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Andy Cobb, we want to thank you for being with us,
actor and comedian, former television spokesperson for Blue Cross Blue
Shield of Florida, has now crossed the line.