Wellpoint lobbyist & ex-Enzi staffer wrote key parts of Baucus plan

[JohnWxy]

http://blog.littlesis.org/2009/09/11/current-wellpoint-lobbyist-ex-enzi-staffer-wrote-key-parts-of-baucus-plan/

Still more evidence that Wellpoint wrote the Baucus plan: the insurance company’s lobbying efforts in DC are headed up by Senator Mike Enzi’s former chief health adviser at Senate HELP, Stephen Northrup. Enzi is a member of Baucus’s so-called “Gang of Six” shaping the bipartisan compromise bill.

In fact, key provisions in the Baucus plan apparently draw on industry-inspired legislation first introduced by Enzi in 2006, while Northrup was still his chief health aide.

Consumer Watchdog first called attention to the similarities, particularly with respect to a part of the plan that would help insurance companies avoid state regulation:


The plan would result in a “race to the bottom” in health care regulation by allowing insurance companies that participate in “health care compacts” to choose the weakest state law to govern all their policies, regardless of which state the policies are sold in. Currently, insurance companies must abide by the state laws of any state where they sell insurance. The Baucus plan resembles an industry proposal carried by Mike Enzi (R-WY) in 2006 discussed below.

So this bill really did get written by insurance industry VPs — past and present. Liz Fowler, the current Baucus staffer who wrote the plan, was a Wellpoint executive last year. And Northrup, the former Enzi staffer who wrote the original iteration of this bill, is now on the Wellpoint payroll.


Link to Consumer Watchdog report on health care reform:

Regulation, Not Deregulation: The Prescription for Lowering Health Costs Without Cutting Coverage (With or Without a Public Option)


(thanks goes to tsuki for making me aware of this)

[voteearlyvoteoften]

1. Sad but true

And Baucus is not the only one who subcontracts the language of their bills. This is clearly common and given in exchange for political suport and contributions. Bloody Hell....

[OwnedByFerrets]

2. Bought and paid for.