OBAMACARE ENDORSEMENTS: WHAT THE BRIBE WAS
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
Published on TheHill.com on November 6, 2009
As the suicidal Democratic congressmen proceed to rubber‐stamp the Obama healthcare reform despite
the drubbing their party took in the '09 elections, the president trotted out the endorsements of the
AMA and the AARP to stimulate support. But these ‐‐ and the other endorsements ‐‐ his package has
received are all bought and paid for.
Here are the deals:
* The American Medical Association (AMA) was facing a 21 percent cut in physicians' reimbursements
under the current law. Obama promised to kill the cut if they backed his bill. The cuts are the fruit of a
law requiring annual 5‐6 percent reductions in doctor reimbursements for treating Medicare patients.
Bravely, each year Congress has rolled the cuts over, suspending them but not repealing them. So each
year, the accumulated cuts threaten doctors. By now, they have risen to 21 percent. With this blackmail
leverage, Obama compelled the AMA to support his bill...or else!
* 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. (If this galls you, join the American Seniors Association, the alternative group;
contact sbarton@americanseniors.org this e‐mail address is being protected from spam bots. You need
JavaScript enabled to view it.)
* The drug industry backed ObamaCare 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 only industry that refused to knuckle under was the medical device makers. They stood for principle
and wouldn't go along with Obama's blackmail. So 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 these endorsements are not freely given, but bought and paid for by an administration that is intent
on passing its program at any cost.