Lobbyists Accused of Using Facebook to Rig Health Care Opposition

File this one away under “sneaky things the U.S. health insurance industry does.”

A report out today says a health insurance industry trade group opposed to President Obama’s health care reform bill is paying Facebook users “virtual currency” on the popular social-networking site to send letters to Congress protesting the bill.

The sleazy practice is the latest high-tech twist on “Astroturfing,” the term for faking grass-roots campaigns.

If you play popular Facebook games like FarmVille or Mafia Wars, you probably know all about the pretend money you need to buy everything from goats to machine guns. Most Facebook users earn the currency by winning games or purchasing it with real money.

But the anti-healthcare reform group called “Get Health Reform Right” is acting as a third party to offer Facebook users free virtual currency if they agree to take a survey which ends with a form letter being sent to the user’s Congressperson.

The letter reads: “I am concerned a new government plan could cause me to lose the employer coverage I have today. More government bureaucracy will only create more problems, not solve the ones we have,” according to The Business Insider.

The fact that a political decision as momentous and contentious as healthcare reform has people resorting to such tactics is hardly surprising. But it’s a sad reflection on how divisive both sides have become in the ongoing efforts to fix our nation’s crippled healthcare system.

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