Ever wonder why single payer is never, ever on the table? Maybe because so many ostensibly liberal health policy leaders are as beholden to the insurance industry as their conservative counterparts.
For example, Business Week reports that former Democratic senator Tom Daschle is once again working closely with UnitedHealth, the nation's largest health insurance company.
Sommer has retained such influential outsiders as Tom Daschle, the
former Democratic Senate Leader who now works for the large law and
lobbying firm Alston & Bird. Daschle, a liberal from South Dakota,
dropped out of the running to be Obama's Secretary of Health &
Human Services after disclosures that he failed to pay taxes on perks
given to him by a private client. He advised UnitedHealth in 2007 and
2008 and resumed that role this year. Daschle personally advocates a
government-run competitor to private insurers. But he sells his
expertise to UnitedHealth, which opposes any such public insurance
plan. Among the services Daschle offers are tips on the personalities
and policy proclivities of members of Congress he has known for decades.
Conceding that he doesn't always agree with his client, Daschle says:
"They just want a description of the lay of the land, an assessment of
circumstances as they appear to be as health reform unfolds." He says
he leaves direct contacts with members of Congress to others at his
firm. [BW]
Even reform standard-bearer Howard Dean joined the lobby firm of McKenna, Long & Aldridge in March as a strategic adviser and policy consultant. McKenna lobbies on behalf of several health care, life science, and insurance companies. When Dean joined the firm, it was announced that he would be advising the firm's lobbyists on healthcare issues.
The White House shouldn't allow Daschle and Dean to continue such apparent conflicts of interest. I'm guessing that their job descriptions have been carefully vetted to avoid violating any ethics guidelines, but let's get real here. Lobbyists are paying top dollar for inside information from current movers and shakers in healthcare policy. That stinks.
Even if everything is on the up-and-up, these arrangements make me question Daschle and Dean's leadership. Can't they wait just a few more months to cash in their public sector credentials?
Sometimes the oligarchy in the United States seems every bit as intractable as the power structure in Honduras.
Recent Comments