Amy Goodman: Congre$$, Heal Thyself

from Truthdig:



Congre$$, Heal Thyself

Posted on Jun 16, 2009
By Amy Goodman


As the Obama administration pushes for a vote on health-care reform before Congress recesses in August, has health-industry money too thoroughly polluted the process for anything good to come of it?

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairs the Senate Finance Committee, key to any health-care reform. Baucus has held several high-profile Senate committee hearings on health care, with no single-payer advocates. They were present, though, until Baucus had them arrested—for standing up one by one in the audience, protesting the exclusion of a single-payer representative on the panel. Baucus is only parroting President Barack Obama’s pledge that “single-payer is off the table.” Yet single-payer health care has significant support among the U.S. public, and increasingly among health-care providers. With single-payer, the government pays the bills, but people still choose what doctors to see. Private health-insurance companies and HMOs—the profiteers—go out of business.

Mike Dennison, a reporter for The Montana Standard, found that Baucus has received more campaign money from health- and insurance-industry interests than any other member of Congress. Dennison told me, “We’re talking about the health-insurance industry and ... HMOs, hospitals, physicians, pharmaceutical companies—that’s probably where the bulk of his money has come from ... out of about almost $15 million he’s raised in the last six years, both for his campaign and his leadership PAC, 23 percent of that came from insurance and health interests ... which we believe is probably more than any other member has received.”

At a public forum in New Mexico, Linda Allison asked Obama about Baucus’ finances: “So many people go bankrupt using their credit cards to pay for health care. Why have they taken single-payer off the plate? And why is Baucus on the Finance Committee discussing health care when he has received so much money from the pharmaceutical companies? Isn’t it a conflict of interest?” ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090616_congress_heal_thyself/

big contributions from BIG Health. It is about the only way I can see to raise even a little awareness.