Who Will Be at the Table? PhRMA and the AMA Join Forces with Insurers

via CommonDreams:



Published on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 by Columbia Journalism Review

Who Will Be at the Table? PhRMA and the AMA Join Forces with Insurers
by Trudy Lieberman


During the campaign, Barack Obama promised his cheering crowds that, when he rolled up his sleeves to work on health care, he would "have insurance company representatives and drug company representatives at the table. They just won't be able to buy every chair." Now is a good time to look at just what kind of seats special interest groups are having at Obama's table and what they're doing to bring the public around to their ways of thinking. This is the ninth of an occasional series of posts that will analyze their activities and how the media are covering them. The entire series is archived here.


Advocates fixated on a public option health plan as a step toward national health insurance have spent months casting the insurance companies as bad guys-fat cats who make too much profit, choke the current health care system, and shower legislators with big bucks for their campaign chests. Most stories emphasize that insurers are fighting such a plan because it could put them out of business by offering lower premiums, controlling costs, and being more efficient. For awhile, I was beginning to think that other stakeholders-who oppose a public plan just as fiercely-were getting a free pass.

There has been no media scorn for the doctors or the hospitals or the drug companies that are considered good guys because they make sick people well. The press has not picked up on their opposition, and lobbyists have begun calling in their Capitol Hill chits. Friday, The American Prospect co-editor Robert Kuttner gave his thoughts about a public plan on the magazine's blog, unsurprisingly referring to the "immense power of the private insurance industry." No mention that the AMA, the drug companies, and hospitals don't want a public plan either. Their reason: A public plan might pay them lower prices for their services, or set other regulations they don't like, or force private insurers to pay them less, too. That's why some compromisers like New York Sen. Charles Schumer have proposed a plan that would pay these groups higher rates than Medicare, and would follow the same rules, such as maintaining reserves against future claims.

Former Clinton administration labor secretary Robert Reich, now a professor at the University of California-Berkeley, reveals that drug makers and insurers have teamed up to kill the public option, and that many moderate Dems and Republicans seem to be embracing softer versions of a public plan. Count the AMA on the insurer-drug team as well. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/09-6

enjoy good health so decided to gamble with it. I have Medicare Part (A) and that's it. I pay my doctor out of pocket since I only need to see him every few years. I had been waiting for the President's health plan to be established and to kick in. I won't go into how very disappointed I am in POTUS at this particular time. Needless to say I am going to have to make some severe cuts (like in food) in my budget to afford this. I can no longer confidently count on a health care Bill being passed that I would be able to afford. Most that I've researched are nothing more than scams. Pray for my continued good health 'cause I'm in Vegas baby!