A word to the wise: Anything you read about healthcare reform coming from The Lewin Group should go directly in the garbage can.
Here's why.
The players and stakeholders who intend to derail healthcare reform have sprung into action.
They're organized, funded, very lethal, and as you'll see from this diary, masterfully concealed under layers of corporate shields.
Please keep the following chart in mind as you read this:
NFIB>THE LEWIN GROUP>INGENIX>UNITEDHEALTH>AHIP
I'm going to connect a bunch of critical dots, and the chart above, will make much more sense after you've read everything.
This information will also come in handy as the take-no-prisoners war for healthcare reform moves into high gear.
All of this is intended to give you a small taste of what's to come.
Here's what The New York Times reported the other day.
The small-business lobbying group that had a big role in derailing Hillary Rodham Clinton’s effort to overhaul health care in the early 1990s has staked out its position for the 2008 political season.
The group, the National Federation of Independent Business, which says it has 350,000 members and lobbyists in 50 states, warned politicians and policy makers on Wednesday not to impose new health-benefit obligations on small employers.
The group said in a statement of principles that "a health care system built on employer mandates or on play-or-pay taxes is unacceptable."
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Today, I'm going to introduce you to a few key players--the people and organizations who will devote armies of highly-trained liars to crank out mountains of disinformation and misinformation masquerading as fact, and feed all of this to the ignorant media and the unsuspecting American people.
You can count on one thing. The same media morons who aided and abetted the regime in the run-up to Iraq, will spew garbage in the form of devious polling and questionable surveys prepared and paid for by insurance industry contractors.
Whenever you read junk surveys, junk polls and junk research try to go under the hood and find out who is paying for this supposedly "objective" gabage. The truth will be hidden under layers of corporate veils and secrecy. But if you take the time, (Google is your friend), you'll almost always be able to trace the orgins back to the lobbyists for the insurance industry.
As we've come to expect, the media will act as scribes, don't expect them to investigate the veracity of the claims.
This rote activity will enable and empower the lobbyists and vested interests to scare and frighten the American people. The lobbyists and stakeholders have only one item on their agenda, to thwart healthcare reform, and to maintain the status quo for the for-profit insurance industry.
Some Key 2008 Players:
- The National Federation of Independent Business
This is the position of NFIB on healthcare reform, as reported by the New York Times:
"We are opposed to payroll taxes," said Susan Eckerly, a vice president for the business federation. "They are the No. 1 job killer for the small-business owner."
The organization has been working on health care issues with a broad group of lobbying allies, including the Business Roundtable, a group of corporate chiefs; the Service Employees International Union; the National Restaurant Association; AARP, the advocacy group for older people; and the building contractors lobby.
In its statement of principles, the federation called for universal health care, with a government safety net to help the neediest obtain coverage. But it opposed proposals to place health care under an umbrella of Medicare-style "single payer" financing. Government safety nets should not be allowed to "crowd out private insurance and care," the federation said.
Why does the NFIB champion private insurance and private health plans?
Here's why, and it ties directly into the extremely important point made by DemFromCt in his diary about deceptive polling.
Please follow me closely. NFIB was a key player in derailing healthcare in 1993. The NFIB retains the Lewin Group to do its healthcare "research" and prepare its "reports".
- The National Federation of Independent Business is in bed with The Lewin Group. The Lewin group is snug as a bug in the rug with, who else, the biggest most corrupt lobbyist of them all, AHIP.
What follows is from the NFIB press release announcing it has retained the Lewin Group.
The Lewin Group Research
NFIB has engaged The Lewin Group, one of the nation's pre-eminent health care consulting organizations, to undertake the research necessary for NFIB to develop approaches to improve small businesses' access to more affordable health care. The Lewin Group's research is designed to help NFIB better understand the available policy options and the preferences of independent businesses concerning those options.
Research? Lewin Group? Please keep reading.
- The Lewin Group and Ingenix:
Ingenix a leading health care technology consulting company
owns The Lewin Group.
Now you're wondering, what's so bad about the relationship between the Lewin Group and Ingenix? Well for starters, Ingenix is an AHIP Solutions Partner.
Keep reading and you'll understand how the game is played. You'll understand how corrupt and lacking in transparency the entire system has become.
Ready for a bit more? Guess who owns Ingenix? UnitedHealth.
Here's the dirty circle.
NFIB>THE LEWIN GROUP>INGENIX>UNITEDHEALTH>AHIP
You might like to know that Senator Ron Wyden is proudly and prominently featured on the Lewin Group UnitedHealth web site as follows.
Gold Standard of Independent Health Care Analysis?
Who is Ron Wyden representing AHIP/UnitedHealth or the people of Oregon?
Lewin Called "Gold Standard of Independent Health Care Analysis"
In a commentary written for the Opinion section of the June 26, 2007 edition of The Wall Street Journal, Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Bob Bennett (R-Utah) referred to The Lewin Group as "the gold standard of independent, health-care analysis." The article, entitled "Fixing Health Care" addresses health care reform and discusses the Senators' proposed legislation, the Healthy Americans Act. The statement regarding The Lewin Group was made in reference to Lewin's analysis of the plan: "The Lewin Group, the gold standard of independent, health-care analysis, has estimated that our plan will reduce total national health-care spending by nearly $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years."
http://www.lewin.com/...
This is what our good friend Ron Wyden said to the L.A. Times. Ron is no friend of single-payer, though he is a big friend of the insurance industry, AHIP and UnitedHealth.
"A lot of people will say, 'If Congress couldn't pass legislation with respect to children, how could we possibly go on to a broader effort to fix healthcare?' " said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). "But I am a contrarian on this issue. I am still confident there is the capacity to deal with healthcare on a broader basis, and both sides can secure what they want most: Democrats making sure everybody gets covered -- because that's how you rein in costs -- and Republicans being able to say, 'Look, the government is not running healthcare.' "
http://www.latimes.com/...
So let's recap, I know it's a bit complicated.
- National Federation of Independent Business was a key player in derailing healthcare reform in 1993.
- NFIB retains the Lewin Group (the Gold Standard of Independent health care analysis) to concoct bullshit reports opposing healthcare reform which does not maintain the status quo vis a vis the for-profit insurance industry.
- Lewin Group is owned by Ingenix an AHIP solutions partner.
- UnitedHealth owns Ingenix.
But remember, the Lewin group produces the Gold Standard of independent healthcare analysis.
What a scam.