FixHealthCarePolicy

The Left’s Health Care Crony Capitalism

The Washington Post reports today:

The nation’s preeminent seniors group, AARP, has put the weight of its 40 million members behind health-care reform, saying many of the proposals will lower costs and increase the quality of care for older Americans.

But not advertised in this lobbying campaign have been the group’s substantial earnings from insurance royalties and the potential benefits that could come its way from many of the reform proposals.

The group and its subsidiaries collected more than $650 million in royalties and other fees last year from the sale of insurance policies, credit cards and other products that carry the AARP name, accounting for the majority of its $1.14 billion in revenue, according to federal tax records.

The AARP is not the only special interest group shelling out money to support Obamacare in hopes of future returns. Politico reported earlier this month: (more…)

Tags: AARP, American Medical Association, crony capitalism, David Axelrod, Obama Health Care Plan, PhRMA

Is the Public Option Dead?

Reporters pressed health care policy experts to address that question at a health reform panel in light of White House senior advisor David Axelrod’s assertions that President Barack Obama’s joint session next week will lay out a health care overhaul that could forgo the contentious government-run insurance option.

For Gail Wilensky, a senior fellow at Project Hope, the public option is “clearly” not dead. “It is the most contentious issue and unfortunately the administration has dug itself [into a difficult situation] by having the public plan become a prized position that is hard to negotiate around,” Wilensky told health care journalists this week at a National Press Club event by the Alliance for Health Care Reform.

Wilensky noted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other members of Congress have said they will not support health care legislation that does not include a public plan.

“I’m worried with a public plan that when the government needs money [for the health program] it will go after benefits, populations served or whack reimbursements to physicians, which would be antithetical to the delivery improvements we’ve been talking about that are needed,” she said. (more…)

Tags: Alliance for Health Care Reform, David Axelrod, Nancy Pelosi, Obama Health Care Plan, Project Hope, public option