Fw: [whoru] Obama Healthcare Bribery
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OBAMACARE ENDORSEMENTS: WHAT THE BRIBE WAS
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN
MCGANN
Published on TheHill.com on November 6,
2009
Printer-Friendly Version
As the suicidal Democratic
congressmen proceed to rubber-stamp the Obama healthcare reform despite the
drubbing their party took in the '09 elections, the president trotted out the
endorsements of the AMA and the AARP to stimulate support. But these -- and the
other endorsements -- his package has received are all bought and paid for.
Here are the deals:
* The American Medical Association (AMA) was
facing a 21 percent cut in physicians' reimbursements under the current law.
Obama promised to kill the cut if they backed his bill. The cuts are the fruit
of a law requiring annual 5-6 percent reductions in doctor reimbursements for
treating Medicare patients. Bravely, each year Congress has rolled the cuts
over, suspending them but not repealing them. So each year, the accumulated cuts
threaten doctors. By now, they have risen to 21 percent. With this blackmail
leverage, Obama compelled the AMA to support his bill...or else!
* The
AARP got a financial windfall in return for its support of the healthcare bill.
Over the past decade, the AARP has morphed from an advocacy group to an
insurance company (through its subsidiary company). It is one of the main
suppliers of Medi-gap insurance, a high-cost, privately purchased coverage that
picks up where Medicare leaves off. But President Bush-43 passed the Medicare
Advantage program, which offered a subsidized, lower-cost alternative to
Medi-gap. Under Medicare Advantage, the elderly get all the extra coverage they
need plus coordinated, well-managed care, usually by the same physician. So more
than 10 million seniors went with Medicare Advantage, cutting into AARP Medi-gap
revenues.
Presto! Obama solved their problem. He eliminates subsidies
for Medicare Advantage. The elderly will have to pay more for coverage under
Medigap, but the AARP -- which supposedly represents them -- will make more
money. (If this galls you, join the American Seniors Association, the
alternative group; contact sbarton@americanseniors.org.
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enabled to view it .)
* The drug industry backed ObamaCare and, in
return, got a 10-year limit of $80 billion on cuts in prescription drug costs.
(A drop in the bucket of their almost $3 trillion projected cost over the next
decade.) They also got administration assurances that it will continue to bar
lower-cost Canadian drugs from coming into the U.S. All it had to do was put its
formidable advertising budget at the disposal of the administration.
*
Insurance companies got access to 40 million potential new customers. But when
the Senate Finance Committee lowered the fine that would be imposed on those who
don't buy insurance from $3,500 to $1,500, the insurance companies jumped ship
and now oppose the bill, albeit for the worst of motives.
The only
industry that refused to knuckle under was the medical device makers. They stood
for principle and wouldn't go along with Obama's blackmail. So the Senate
Finance Committee retaliated by imposing a tax on medical devices such as
automated wheelchairs, pacemakers, arterial stents, prosthetic limbs, artificial
knees and hips and other necessary accoutrements of healthcare.
So these
endorsements are not freely given, but bought and paid for by an administration
that is intent on passing its program at any cost.
Go to DickMorris.com
to read all of Dick's columns!
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***COPYRIGHT EILEEN MCGANN
AND DICK MORRIS 2009. REPRINTS WITH PERMISSION ONLY***
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