How Did Obama Get All Of Those Endorsements For Healthcare?
Do you remember a few months ago, AARP said it did not endorse healthcare reform? Does it make you wonder how the AMA can endorse such socialist controls on the practice of medicine? Why the drug industry is backing this bitter pill of a plan? And for the major stumpper, at least for me, is why the insurance companies would ever consider Obamacare/Pelosicare good for the country. According to Dick Morris, Obama bribed them.
The AARP got a financial windfall in return for its support of the healthcare bill. Over the past decade, the AARP has morphed from an advocacy group to an insurance company (through its subsidiary company). It is one of the main suppliers of Medi-gap insurance, a high-cost, privately purchased coverage that picks up where Medicare leaves off. But President Bush-43 passed the Medicare Advantage program, which offered a subsidized, lower-cost alternative to Medi-gap. Under Medicare Advantage, the elderly get all the extra coverage they need plus coordinated, well-managed care, usually by the same physician. So more than 10 million seniors went with Medicare Advantage, cutting into AARP Medi-gap revenues.
Presto! Obama solved their problem. He eliminates subsidies for Medicare Advantage. The elderly will have to pay more for coverage under Medigap, but the AARP — which supposedly represents them — will make more money. (
The drug industry backed Obamacare/Pelosicare and, in return, got a 10-year limit of $80 billion on cuts in prescription drug costs. (A drop in the bucket of their almost $3 trillion projected cost over the next decade.) They also got administration assurances that it will continue to bar lower-cost Canadian drugs from coming into the U.S. All it had to do was put its formidable advertising budget at the disposal of the administration.
Insurance companies got access to 40 million potential new customers. But when the Senate Finance Committee lowered the fine that would be imposed on those who don’t buy insurance from $3,500 to $1,500, the insurance companies jumped ship and now oppose the bill, albeit for the worst of motives.
The makers of medical devices stood by their principles and chose to not go along with Obama’s scam, er, uh, I mean scheme, I mean plan. What did they get in return? the Senate Finance Committee retaliated by imposing a tax on medical devices such as automated wheelchairs, pacemakers, arterial stents, prosthetic limbs, artificial knees and hips and other necessary accoutrements of healthcare.
So, if all of those glowing endorsements tempted or convinced you to support Obamacare/Pelosicare, now you know they were bought and paid for. Many bloggers write reviews of products and other websites and post them on their own blog, for compensation. The FTC is beginning to crack down on bloggers for false advertising. Shouldn’t the FTC hold these organizations, especially AARP, to the same standards it is beginning to hold bloggers to?
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About the Author: Bill is a 51 year old IT Professional who enjoys political blogging in his spare time after work and after the daily grind at the gym.