Obama Scam: Former Wellpoint Exec Hired to Implement Taxpayer Funded Giveaway to Private Insurers Like Wellpoint
The Obama administration has hired former Wellpoint executive whohelped draft the Orwellian Rube Goldberg "health care bill" that willgive billions to the profit making private health insurance insurancecrooks taking it from the pockets of struggling, regular Americans.
No wonder US health care continues to miserably fail when compared to most other industrialized nations whose inhabitants are covered by universal, quality health care.
From David Sirota at Open Left: "From the Department of You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up, check out this little-noticed report from the Billings Gazette today:
" 'Liz Fowler, a key staffer for U.S. Sen. Max Baucuswho helped draft the federal health reform bill enacted in March, isjoining the Obama administration to help implement the new law...'Fowler headed up a team of 20-some Senate Finance Committeestaffers who helped draft the bill in the Senate. She was Baucus' tophealth care aide from 2001-2005 and left that job in 2006 tobecome an executive at WellPoint, the nation's largest private insurer.She was vice president of public policy at WellPoint, helping developpublic-policy positions for the company. In 2008, she rejoined Baucusto work on health reform legislation.' "
"For some good background on Fowler and the insidious role she playedin killing the public option, watch Bill Moyers' recent segment here.
"Clearly, this is a telling indictment of the health care lawitself, strongly suggesting that it was constructed by the Obamaadministration - as some progressives argued - as a massivetaxpayer-financed giveaway to private insurers like Wellpoint. Andlet's be honest: In investment terms, Fowler has been a jackpot for thehealth industry. The industry maximized her public policy experiencefor their own uses when they plucked her out of the Senate. Then,having lined her pockets, they deposited her first into a key Senatecommittee to write the new health care law that they will operateunder, and now into the administration that will implement said law.Any bets on how much Fowler will make when Wellpoint (or another healthinsurer) inevitably rehires her in a few years?
"This story is also a telling indictment of the Washingtonmedia. You'll notice that the Obama administration's move was reportedby the Billings Gazette, but (save for a blog entry on the Hill's website, one context-free line at the bottom of the Washington Post's gossip column, and a blurb in Congressional Quarterly's HealthBeat newsletter) was almost completely ignored by national Washington-based publications.That's not because D.C. reporters didn't know it was happening - morelikely, it is because the political press corps in the nation's capitalno longer sees this kind of revolving door corruption as even mildlyproblematic, much less newsworthy. That's how pervasive corruption isthese days - ubiquitous to the point of invisible in the eyes of mostof the so-called watchdogs."
And for the icing on the cake here's what I wrote at FYII on Tuesday: "So, who did Obama pick to replace Orzag at OMB? A Clintonite, Rubinite, Citigroup hedge fund honcho...and a lawyer. More oligarchic corporatocracy from this DINO administration."
Digby adds more: "Here's a positive headline for you from the Boston Globe:
Obama picks adviser to cut deficit
“ 'Jack’schallenge over the next few years is to use his extraordinary skill andexperience to cut down that deficit and put our nation back on afiscally responsible path. And I have the utmost faith in his abilityto achieve this goal as a central member of our economic team,' Obamasaid.
'SenateBudget Committee chairman Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota, calledLew “a superb choice’’ and a person of 'the highest integrity.’'"Obama also said this:
“'He knows how to make the tough choices. And he knows how to reachacross the aisle to find bipartisan solutions,' "Conrad said.
" 'Ata time when so many families are tightening their belts, he’s going tomake sure that the government continues to tighten its own.' ""Any questions?"
Tensof millions of people are "tightening their belts" because they'rejobless; many of them dependent on food banks to eat; those with jobsare working for wages that have been stagnant for decades, working moreand making less.
Yet, the unemployed, who paid into unemployment compensation, arecalled lazy and told they're on their own. These people are victims ofdecades of GOP and DINO administrations' support of Wall Street greedand fraud and corporatist policies like offshoring so that now therearen't enough jobs (five applicants for every position).
And this DINO administration and DINO Congress continue to cave to theminority selfish, avaricious GOP, doing the minimum (like a diluted "stimulus") or nothingwhile they and their corporate crony multi-millionaire controllers feed at thegovernment trough.
This is sick!




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