Is Cathy McMorris Rodgers a hero? Not so much.

You may have seen a television ad portraying Cathy McMorris Rodgers as heroic in her support of healthcare: This ad ends by directing viewers to MyKidneyCare.Org.

What’s misleading about this ad?

• Only at the end (in small print) do you find that the ad is funded and created by the DaVita Corporation.  The DaVita Corporation is one of the two largest for-profit dialysis companies in the United States.
• Referring to the Dialysis Patients Demonstration Act as the Patients Act is at the least misleading and at the most intentionally deceitful.  The entire ad is intended to mislead viewers into believing that by supporting it Cathy McMorris Rodgers is in general support of healthcare providers and patients in general, a claim for which there is no support.
• The ad suggests that the (Dialysis) Patients (Demonstration) Act has the support of doctors and patients, without noting that the proposed legislation is opposed in its current form by local and national organizations of patients and physicians including
  • the Northwest Kidney Centers,
  • the American Society of Nephrology,
  • the American Association of Kidney Patients,
  • the American Society of Transplant Surgeons,
  • the American Society of Transplantation, and
  • the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations.

To see one set of arguments (and links to others) against this act as it stands, check here.