Who is REALLY against Health Care Reform? Just look behind the curtain...

There's an old adage regarding politics. If you want to know what is truly going on, you follow the money.

Pharmaceutical and Insurance companies have been spending more on bribing our Public Officials in the last 6 months than the Petroleum, Oil and Gas conglomerates have in the past year!

The Pharmaceutical, Biotech, and Insurance companies have assigned, on average, 6 lobbyists to each lawmaker in the United States to block Health Care Reform.

Six Lobbyists Per Law Maker Work on Health Overhaul.

That’s six lobbyists for each of the 535 members of the House and Senate, according to Senate records, and three times the number of people registered to lobby on defense.

“The sheer quantity of money that’s sloshed around Washington is drowning out the voices of citizens and the groups that speak up for them.”

The lobbying push also risks delaying legislation, said Rogan Kersh, associate dean at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service.

“That amount of activity is inevitably going to slow down the process,” Kersh said.

Filibustered by the Corporations and their Lobbyist Lackeys, instead of by the Political Opposition! Go Team Democracy!

Whether you are for or against any of the 5 Health Care Reform plans currently being debated by Congress, hopefully you all are able to see who has a vested interest in preventing any Health Care Reform, in any form, from being enacted. The Insurance and Pharmaceutical Corporations are running scared because they won't be able to charge you $4000 a month for 30 tiny pills any more. If they are willing to create the biggest lobby this country has ever seen, larger than Military Industrial Complex and Dutch, British, and Saudi Petroleum, Gas, and Oil Conglomerates, then you should realize that the opposition to Health Care Reform doesn't have your best interests at heart. The only thing that they want is more money, and if they are willing to spend over a half-billion dollars this year to protect their interests (read "Profit Margin") rather than your interests, then how can anyone in their right mind side with them?

Misdirection?

The White House has yet to entice any members of the Axis of Evil to the negotiating table, unless Billy Tauzin counts. The former Louisiana congressman doesn't head a rogue state, but PhRMA, the drug-industry trade group whose name is itself a swear word for liberal Democrats.

Tauzin cut a deal with the White House that is keeping PhRMA out of its customary place in the pantheon of Democratic hate groups -- for now. President Barack Obama goes out of his way to praise the drug industry. Tauzin has visited the White House half a dozen times and has committed to a $150 million advertising campaign on behalf of ObamaCare. He's become the "good German" of the health-care debate -- that is, the good $2 million-a-year drug-industry lobbyist.

Source.

Of course and they are the ones paying for and filling the airwaves and the internet with outright lies, slander and misinformation...

and per usual people are falling for it.

I mean really think about it...why would anyone who is not aligned with big med. support the old system unless they have been bamboozled?

If big med. wins it will mean higher premiums poorer service and more people being dropped from the system...

The reality is this corporate medicine for profit will never look out for and benefit you or me.

If they win the average guy is screwed.

Originally posted by fraterormus
The Insurance and Pharmaceutical Corporations are running scared because they won't be able to charge you $4000 a month for 30 tiny pills any more. If they are willing to create the biggest lobby this country has ever seen, larger than Military Industrial Complex and Dutch, British, and Saudi Petroleum, Gas, and Oil Conglomerates, then you should realize that the opposition to Health Care Reform doesn't have your best interests at heart. The only thing that they want is more money, and if they are willing to spend over a half-billion dollars this year to protect their interests (read "Profit Margin") rather than your interests, then how can anyone in their right mind side with them?

Hmm..... maybe you need to delve a little deeper. Lookee here who is supporting the Obama Plan with 150 MILLION DOLLARS.


Drug Industry to Spend $150 Million on TV Ads Supporting Obama Health Care


www.allgov.com... g_Industry_to_Spend_150_Million_on_TV_Ads_Supporting_Obama_Health_Care_90810


Now I wonder why the bid bad Drug Companies would be supporting the plan????????????

You connect the dots.

reply to post by pavil

AND I would bet that they are spending an equal amount spreading propaganda and misinformation against it as well.

That is how they play the game...

but just because you are about to be screwed doesn't mean you have to support the screwer.

reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II


Both congress and Obama are working on this bill. the article said that the lobbyists are for Congress. YOur article talks about Obama.

What I don't understand is that people knew health care reform was coming when Obama was elected. So if the health care industry really is feeling threatened, why didn't they change their policies to appease the American public? If you are worried about your job, you do a lot to keep it. so why didn't they come out and say: no more rate hikes. No more pre existing conditions, no more whatever.....

Originally posted by nixie_nox
reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II

 

Both congress and Obama are working on this bill. the article said that the lobbyists are for Congress. YOur article talks about Obama.

So you're trying to intimate that Congress and Obama are after different goals?

reply to post by fraterormus

Who is REALLY against Health Care Reform?

Speaking strictly for myself, I am not so much against health care reform as I am turning the system on its ear all at once.

From where I sit, the whole problem is rooted in the health insurance industry. They have placed themselves directly between the market (your healthcare provider) and the consumer (you). Today's reality is that no one can even think about getting a decent bit of care without first negotiating the insurance obstacle.

While many happily blame lawyers and trial awards for the high cost of health care, it is actually due to the fact that there is this leeching, third party middleman that you and your doctor are supporting. The cost had to go up and they are still going up as the insurance industry grows fatter each year. I mean, who do you think pays for this huge mega-squatter, anyway?

In a perfect world, we would simply remove the leech and then, use the government as a bandage just temporarily while the system healed. The market would balance itself so that the cost of care/services eventually met the ability of the consumer to pay. After that, there would be no need for either the government or a private middleman.

But of course, this is NOT a perfect world and surgically removing the insurance industry from the equation, there would be that period when, if left unbandaged, healthcare would become almost entirely unavailable to the middle and lower income brackets.

In my personal opinion, the insurance industry should be forced to foot a large part of the bill for cleaning up the mess they themselves largely made. But again, no perfection because... these guys put a lot of money into the pockets of your elected representation and neither have any urge to rock this perfectly profitable boat.

...

Originally posted by grover
reply to post by pavil

 

AND I would bet that they are spending an equal amount spreading propaganda and misinformation against it as well.

That is how they play the game...

but just because you are about to be screwed doesn't mean you have to support the screwer.

I have no doubt they are covering their bets. The real question is "who is the screwer"??

The wife of Senator Chris Dodd, who is in charge of writing the Senate’s bill, sits on the boards of four healthcare companies.

Now Chris Dodd wouldn't do anything improper now .....would he??

www.portfolio.com... de-Loan-Scandal/

Almost 30 key lawmakers helping draft landmark health-care legislation have financial holdings in the industry, totaling nearly $11 million worth of personal investments in a sector that could be dramatically reshaped by this summer’s debate.

Here, compiled by the AP, are individual company details about the lobbying activities in Q1 2009:

* PhRMA - $7 million PhRMA is again trying to ensure drug companies won’t face steep cuts in prescription prices and, instead of reducing drug margins, have proposed cost reductions to hospitals and insurers.

* Pfizer - $6.1 million Pfizer … more than doubled its lobbying spending from the year-ago period. The company also spent nearly $3.3 million lobbying in the fourth quarter of 2008. New York-based Pfizer lobbied on legislation on health reform initiatives, electronic prescriptions, veterans issues, allowing generic versions of expensive biologic drugs and a proposal requiring research comparing the effectiveness of different medical treatments. It also lobbied on U.S. patent reform and on international patent, trade and regulatory issues involving more than 20 countries; national health insurance; legislation to require drug makers to disclose payments to physicians; reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program; and environmental issues related to pharmaceutical manufacturing.

* Eli Lilly - $3.4 million Domestically, the drugmaker lobbied on Medicaid rebates and advertising transparency.

* Amgen - $2.8 million Amgen Inc., the world’s largest biotechnology company, spent nearly $2.8 million lobbying in the first quarter as Congress debates a potential system for bringing less expensive copies of pricey biotech drugs to the market.

* Merck - $1.5 million Merck lobbied Congress and the White House on health care reform issues including increasing coverage for uninsured people, requiring research comparing the effectiveness of different medical treatments and keeping a private-sector health care system. … and increasing funding for the national immunization program for low-income children. Merck lobbied against imposing government price controls on prescription drugs bought under the Medicare program and against expanding rebates paid to the government for medications bought under the Medicaid program. But it lobbied for ensuring access to vaccines under Medicare; it sells the Zostavax vaccine against shingles, a painful, blistering rash that generally strikes senior citizens.

* Johnson & Johnson - $1.5 million It lobbied on multiple bills involving the Medicare prescription drug program that would either limit discounts given to the government or lower the prices it pays. J&J which offers employee wellness programs, lobbied in support of a tax credit to employers who do so, and on a bill that would require drug and medical device makers to report many payments to physicians.

* Wyeth - $876,000 Madison, N.J.-based Wyeth ( WYE - news - people ) lobbied on several aspects of health care reform, including bills that could limit the prices the government pays for medications, as well as public disclosure of drugmaker payments to doctors. It lobbied on drug advertising rules and legislation to modernize the Food and Drug Administration. The maker of Centrum vitamins also lobbied on dietary supplement issues.

* Schering-Plough - $600,000 Schering-Plough lobbied on health reform issues including access to coverage, price rebates for drugs bought under the Medicaid program and proposals to require research comparing effectiveness of different medical treatments. The maker of allergy treatments Nasonex and Claritin, and the HomeAgain Pet Recovery System also lobbied on reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, legislation affecting Food and Drug Administration operations, and against importation of cheaper prescription drugs from foreign countries, which domestic drugmakers have opposed for years.

* Amylin - $350,000 San Diego-based Amylin lobbied on legislation that would allow the Food and Drug Administration to approve copies of biotech drugs, reimbursement issues, drug safety and physician payment disclosures.

* Biogen - $290,000 The Cambridge, Mass.-based company lobbied on legislation that would set up a process for the Food and Drug Administration to approve biosimilars, or copies of biotech drugs.

Sour ce

Still looks like they are spending more FOR the plan rather than against.

If you think the Drug and Insurance companies are not going to make out very well under Obama's Plan too, then you just don't understand how politics works.


Horrible grammar with double negative.

[edit on 14-8-2009 by pavil]

[edit on 14-8-2009 by pavil]

[edit on 14-8-2009 by pavil]

reply to post by pavil


Oh I know how politics works...and while I am in favor of health care reform...I would be far more in favor of it if the corporate shills weren't writing it.

At the same time the status quo isn't a winner either.

Might as well break out the vasaline and bend over then hope for the best.

[edit on 14-8-2009 by grover]

reply to post by grover



See, I can agree with you .......sometimes.

reply to post by pavil

The pathetic thing about this whole situation is that something needs to be done about health care in this nation...no doubt...but as long as the corporate predators have a hand in writing the bill nothing much will really change despite all the hysterics...

but if nothing changes at all we will be in an even bigger mess and with the economic firestorm approaching of the baby boomers retiring this may be the last chance we have to fix the system for maybe decades to come.

All I can say is stock up on vasaline...we are going to be getting screwed for a long time to come.

There is a big difference between the industry spending an estimated $500 million against Health Care Reform and spending $120 million to hedge their bets in favor of Health Care Reform.

In addition, there are some companies who know how Government Contracting works. In getting Government bids, Nepotism is the Status Quo. If Health Care Reform happens, then those who have been favorable to the Reform are going to be the ones most likely to get the bids. So, it's smart business for individual companies to break with the Industry and support Health Care Reform because although it may mean less money for their Industry, it means more money for their company. The Pharmaceutical Giants won't be the ones supporting Health Care Reform, but the smaller Pharmaceutical companies certainly will in hopes of gaining favor and future Government Contracts.

You certainly don't see a single Health Insurance Company giving money to Health Care Reform advocates. They are only fighting against.

And with Health Insurance Companies raising their Rates 22%-53% this year, yet again...the cost of Health Insurance is getting far too expensive for the average American to afford, let alone accept.

Originally posted by grover

but if nothing changes at all we will be in an even bigger mess and with the economic firestorm approaching of the baby boomers retiring this may be the last chance we have to fix the system for maybe decades to come.

I totally agree again (what's going on here?).

That's why it is imperative that this bill be a REAL Bipartisan effort with both sides strongly supporting it.

Originally posted by fraterormus
There is a big difference between the industry spending an estimated $500 million against Health Care Reform and spending $120 million to hedge their bets in favor of Health Care Reform.

Please quote specifics. Which industry is spending 500 Million? It's not the drug companies as I have shown.

Please details if you don't mind.

I fully support this position that Big Pharma/AMA are behind this in some way - not so much as to see it reformed or overhauled so much as to ensure that any changes are made which benefit THEM - not necessarily the American citizens.

I see all of this politicizing and social-division simply as a smokescreen so our elected lawmakers can be further influenced.

What would be really interesting to me is to see how much each of these lawmakers holding these "Town Halls" have been given in contributions from Big Pharma/Medical companies and what other bills they were involved in of a medical nature.

For pharma, it woks in their favor on both ends.

Sure, they'll cut all their pill prices in half, and make sure that pretty much everyone is on pills to make up for their loss.

Forget surgeries, feed 'em pills. Lots of pills. Keep society full of pills, and we'll have something akin to a zombie nation.

I for one can hardly wait.

Originally posted by pavil
Please quote specifics.

Please details if you don't mind.

PAC and Lobbyists have to file expenditures according to Federal Law. There are some great sites that show these...opensecrets.org is a good one.

Diagnosis Reform

Drug Makers Cash in on Lobbying

Insurers Fight Public Health Care

Senators Opposed to "Public Option" Haul in Health Care PAC Dollars

reply to post by pavil

Generally speaking if we can put away our ideologies and speak to each other as individuals I have always found that we have far more in common than what separates us...

Now if the political ideologues...the talking heads and the radio blah blah blah's would understand this instead of screaming hysterically from their not so respected positions.