Schering-Plough, New York Life and the BCBS system (the "Blues"), it would seem. At least in the Senate -- where the Chairman of the committee tasked with health care reform, Sen. Max Baucus, resides -- this, by TPMGary, at the very fine TMPCafe, an off-shoot of the "Talking Points Memo" Website (it helped break the Dick Cheney/Scooter Libby stories of the leak of a covert CIA agent's identity -- for partisan political gain):
. . . .Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Finance committee that is currently conducting the hearings on health care reform, won't allow a discussion about single payer health insurance.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Schering-Plough and New York Life Insurance are among his top five corporate contributors through 2008. Here's the direct link to this information at opensecrets.org. . . .
. . .the fact that his top corporate campaign contributors are corporations in the health care industry must influence his decisions on the matter of a single payer health system. . . .
Indeed, in 2008 alone, individuals affiliated with Schering Plough personally contributed $64,200, while its PAC added $28,000, for a toal of $92,200. [FYI -- Senator Grassley will be moving off of his role on this committee -- he's headed to the Judiciary Committee, as ranking minority member.]
To be fair, the House's version of this legislation will be as important as the Senate's -- and while I do believe Sen. Grassley was, until recently, the more pro-active de-facto leader of this committee -- I think Sen. Baucus a very-honorable man. Even if he were inclined to do so, he won't be able to single-handedly stem the overall tide for change, based solely on several large campaign contributions from Schering-Plough's PAC (in addition to individual donations from CEO Fred Hassan, CFO Bob Bertolini and General Counsel Tom Sabatino, personally -- you'll need to look in the middle of each page linked, to find the individuals' contributions from 2008).
2 comments:
Why should SP need single payer health insurance. Just having a government option might be all they need. Remember the people hurt by phen-fen (another gift from Freddy) pretty much wound up on Medicaid anyway after they couldn't work anymore. Plus Grassley per his own admission has been listening to and encouraging FDA whistleblowers to come talk to him. Don't you think people at FDA might have some pretty good stuff on SP. However Grassley can't have hearings or issue subpeonas on his own he needs to work with Baucus. Just because TMP puts forth a hypothesis doesn't mean it's a very good one or that there aren't others.
Excellent points, Anonymous!
I think Sen. Grassley is leaving -- to ride herd as the ranking minority member at Judiciary -- for the coming fights on Supreme Court appointments.
I DO think FDA will continue to be a "sore-spot" for Schering-Plough -- and to a lesser extent, Merck (post merger).
I think SP fears the rise of a low-price "generic medicines nation" -- under a single-payer scenario.
I think, like you, apparently, the "generic medicines nation" will emerge, either way -- with or without a sinlge payer system.
And I like the provocative stance of the TMP, as a rule. It shakes things up. And that's a good thing.
Thanks -- great stuff!
Namaste
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