House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark , D-Calif., never shy about attacking industry profits, also issued a statement slamming the private health plans in Medicare, known as Medicare Advantage plans, for making big money at the expense of taxpayers and health plan enrollees.
Now we know who is going after Pete Stark.
Anonymous Industry Sources Control Congress
There's a widespread debate in media circles about how often to use anonymous sources, and I understand why it is sometimes necessary. That said, the practice is now so commonly abused that many journalists feel no compunction whatsoever in passing off anonymous rumors as credible news. Take this 'article' by Peter Cohn of CongressDaily, which purports to be about a possible successor to Charlie Rangel on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, but quickly devolves into a gossip-y and entirely anonymous set of industry lobbyists unaccountably sniping at the progressive Democrat next in line for the job, Pete Stark.
Clearly health insurance parasites, aided by their collaborators in the press, are to maneuvering to replace Stark with someone more malleable. If you live in Stark's district, please thank him. If you don't live in his district, please tell the house leadership that you appreciate Stark's leadership on this issue.
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Broder tom'w -- "key constituency group leaders"
Health Reform's Moment --
Taking the microphone, in turn, at a Washington hotel were the head of Business Roundtable, speaking for leading corporations; the chief executive of Pfizer, the giant pharmaceutical company; the president of America's Health Insurance Plans, the trade association for that industry; and spokesmen for the National Federation of Independent Business, the small-business lobby, and AARP, the senior citizens organization.
All of them agreed that major health legislation has a much better chance of passage in the next Congress than when Bill and Hillary Clinton tried in 1993-94. And so did John Harwood of CNBC and myself, the two journalists invited to be on the panel.
The comments of the corporate representatives were particularly important because the small-business, insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies were instrumental in killing the Clinton reforms. As John Castellani, president of Business Roundtable, said, "This is not 1994," when his constituents were willing just to thwart the Clintons and live with the status quo....