Just a couple of hours before Speaker Paul Ryan stood in front of a screen and told everyone what health insurance was, he was fundraising at a breakfast with health insurance lobbyists. According to The Intercept, the lobbying firm holding the fundraiser has been working to undo the Affordable Care Act.
The breakfast, according to an invitation, was sponsored by McGuireWoods PAC, the political action committee for the lobbying firm McGuireWoods. Blue Cross Blue Shield, an Anthem company, pays McGuireWoods $120,000 a year to lobby on changes to health reform, records show. Attendees of the event paid were asked to pitch in as much as $10,000.
These insurance groups are the seemingly the only group of people who seem to think that Paul Ryan’s Trumpcare plan is a good idea.
As we reported earlier this week, insurance lobbyists are particularly fond of a tax change made by the Republican health bill that removes limitations on deductions for executive compensation. That reversal will reduce the tax bill for health insurance companies while incentivizing higher pay for insurance employees.
This is how the Paul Ryan swamp-mobile works: he goes in and destroys good things, then zips off to get his checks.