MSM gave you a WRONG DIAGNOSIS, 'murkn!!!
"Health care reform still key topic for Daschle" by David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times | August 23, 2009
WASHINGTON - Six months have passed since the morning when Tom Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader, under fire for not paying certain taxes, called President Obama in his study off the Oval Office to withdraw his nomination as health secretary.
But these days it often seems as if Daschle never left the picture. With unrivaled ties on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, Daschle still talks constantly with top White House advisers, many of whom previously worked for him.
He still speaks frequently to the president, who met with him as recently as Friday morning in the Oval Office.
Sounds like the healthcare version of Henry Kissinger, doesn't he?
And he also remains a highly paid policy adviser to hospital, drug, pharmaceutical and other health care industry clients of Alston & Bird, the law and lobbying firm.
Pffffft!
Related: The Healthy and Hearty Voice of the Healthcare Lobbyists
Now the White House and Senate Democratic leaders appear to be moving toward a blueprint for overhauling the health system - centered on nonprofit insurance cooperatives - that Daschle began promoting two months ago as a politically feasible alternative to a more muscular government-run insurance plan.
Related: The Massachusetts Model: Doctors' Diet
It is an idea that also happens to dovetail with the interests of many Alston & Bird clients, like the insurance giant UnitedHealth and the Tennessee Hospital Association.
Related: Boston Globe Omissions: Hiding Health Care Failure
And about United:
CHICAGO - UnitedHealth Group, the largest US health insurer, and its investors have won final court approval of the $895 million settlement of a lawsuit in which the company was accused of improperly backdating stock options.
Oh, great, just what you want your HEALTHCARE COMPANY to be CONCERNED ABOUT -- its STOCK OPTIONS!!!!
US District Judge James M. Rosenbaum approved the accord Monday in Minneapolis. He also approved a $30 million settlement by former chief executive William McGuire, reached in September. Rosenbaum awarded $64.8 million in fees to lawyers for the plaintiffs.
UnitedHealth, based in Minnetonka, Minn., was among more than 200 companies that disclosed internal or federal probes of backdating, the practice of setting dates for stock options before they are issued to magnify their value.
What you and I would call FRAUD, readers.
The total $925.5 million settlement is the largest in US history in an options-backdating case, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
And a drop in the proverbial urine cup to them!
The investors sued UnitedHealth and certain officers and directors in 2006, alleging they engaged in a “scheme to reward themselves - especially their chief executive officer - and others by showering themselves with stock options.’’
Your kidding?!!!!
Well, they WERE LOOKING AFTER THEIR OWN HEALTH, weren't they?
The investors said the company failed to disclose stock-option backdating to them, in violation of federal securities laws. UnitedHealth and its officers denied any wrongdoing....
Yup, a THIEF and a LIAR!!!!!!
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And it is drawing angry cries of accommodation from more liberal House Democrats bent on including a public insurance plan.
What? Can't hear ya? Whatchasay?
Friends and associates of Daschle’s say the interests of Alston & Bird’s clients have no influence on his views.
No, but the $$$ sure as hell does!
They say he sees no conflict in advising private clients on the one hand, and advising the White House on the other, because he offers the same assessment to everyone: Though he has often said that he favors a government-run insurance option, the Senate will not pass it....
Translation: Whatever comes out of his mouth, he is shilling for his paymasters!
Critics, though, say his ex officio role gives Alston & Bird’s health care clients privileged insights into the policy process. They say Daschle’s multiple advisory roles illustrate the kind of coziness with the lobbying world that Obama vowed to end.
Yeah, that sure was a bunch of hot air.
If he had been confirmed as health secretary, Daschle would have been subject to strict transparency and ethics rules. Daschle’s position, some liberals say, raises at least an appearance of a conflict of interest.
Ya think?
“I hope the president can make a decision based on what the country wants, not what a handful of Daschle’s clients want,’’ said Representative Lynn Woolsey of California, a leader of the progressive caucus.
Got our answer, don't we?
Daschle both recommends and predicts an incremental approach. “We are not going to see this happen overnight. It can’t. It is too big a shift in the economy,’’ he told a biotechnology trade group in May.
You know what I think, and I'm not typing SINGLE-PAYER again!
If the legislation can begin to “ramp up’’ coverage for all, health information technology and some cost controls, “we will have succeeded,’’ Daschle said.
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