By Dan Eggen The nation's largest health insurance carrier is urging its employees to lobby the Senate against reform proposals that would hurt the firm's bottom line, according to copies of e-mails released Thursday by a liberal advocacy group. UnitedHealth Group, which is based in Minnesota, sent an e-mail message (PDF) to its 75,000 employees on Tuesday asking them to write their senators and local newspapers in opposition to a public insurance option, alleging that "government-run health care" will force "millions of Americans" to drop their current coverage. Proposed form letters from the company also lay out opposition to cuts in the costly Medicare Advantage program and advocate higher financial penalties for individuals who do not buy health insurance. The e-mail was sent by United for Health Reform, which is the name of the company's lobbying arm; the subject line read: "Write Your Senators!" "Government-run health care will result in
By John Amick Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Sunday that no health-care reform bill at all is better than legislation that includes some form of a government-run public option. "The truth is that nothing is better than that because I think we ought to follow, if I may, the doctors' oath here in Congress as we deal with health care reform. Do no harm," Lieberman said. Lieberman, a critical vote for Senate Democrats in the health-care debate, said a public option, unlike extending insurance coverage to the uninsured and controlling premium costs, was never a priority until recently. The former Democratic vice-presidential candidate, now an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, said he would not filibuster to stop debate on health reform, but he feels strongly about discarding any public option. He called public option backers who have declared their stance as the only way to true reform as
By Dan Eggen The August recess did little to slow the Washington lobbying frenzy over health-care reform, as insurers, drugmakers and hospitals continued to spend millions to attempt to sway the emerging legislation, according to new disclosure reports filed with Congress. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the drugmakers' main trade group, shattered records again by spending nearly $7 million on lobbying from July through September, the quarterly disclosure records show. The outlay brings PhRMA's total so far this year to nearly $20 million, just shy of the group's entire lobbying budget for 2008. Other big health-care spenders in the third quarter included Pfizer Inc. ($5.42 million); the American Hospital Association ($3.8 million); the American Medical Association ($3.95 million); Amgen Inc. ($3 million); Bayer Corp. ($2.45 million); and America's Health Insurance Plans ($2.4 million). Many of Washington's broader interest groups have also ramped up their ...
Courtesy Who Runs Gov Current Position: National Economic Council, Special Assistant to the President for Health Care (since January 2009) Boss: NEC Director Lawrence H. Summers, NEC Deputy Director Diana Farrell, NEC Deputy Director Jason Furman. Why He Matters An expert on international health policy and the economics of U.S. health care, Kocher joined the Obama administration earlier this year as a member of the National Economic Council. As a member of the president's health-care economics and policy brain trust, Kocher is on the front lines of the administration's efforts to shape and enact health care reform. Kocher is a former partner at the Washington-based international consulting firm McKinsey & Co., where he led research efforts to determine causes of high U.S. health-care costs for the McKinsey Global Institute, the firm's economic research department. In his current role, Kocher is charged with finding ways to reform the U.S. health system
