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Firms with Obama ties profit from health push


dmagicglock

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090819/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_health_care_consultants

:popcorn:

"By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer – Wed Aug 19, 6:08 pm ET

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's push for a national health care overhaul is providing a financial windfall in the election offseason to Democratic consulting firms that are closely connected to the president and two top advisers.

Coalitions of interest groups running at least $24 million in pro-overhaul ads hired GMMB, which worked for Obama's 2008 campaign and whose partners include a top Obama campaign strategist. They also hired AKPD Message and Media, which was founded by David Axelrod, a top adviser to Obama's campaign and now to the White House. AKPD did work for Obama's campaign, and Axelrod's son Michael and Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe work there.

The firms were hired by Americans for Stable Quality Care and its predecessor, Healthy Economy Now. Each was formed by a coalition of interests with big stakes in health care policy, including the drug maker lobby PhRMA, the American Medical Association, the Service Employees International Union and Families USA, which calls itself "The Voice for Health Care Consumers."

Their ads press for changes in health care policy. Healthy Economy Now made one of the same arguments that Obama does: that health care costs are delaying the country's economic recovery and that changes are needed if the economy is to rebound.

There is no evidence that Axelrod directly profited from the group's ads. Axelrod took steps to separate himself from AKPD when he joined Obama's White House. AKPD owes him $2 million from his stock sale and will make preset payments over four years, starting with $350,000 on Dec. 31, according to Axelrod's personal financial disclosure report.

A larger issue is a network of relationships and overlapping interests that resembles some seen in past administrations and could prove a problem as Obama tries to win the public over on health care and fulfill his promise to change the way Washington works, said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a government watchdog group.

"Even if these are obvious bedfellows and kind of standard PR maneuvers, it still stands to undercut Obama's credibility," Krumholz said. "The potential takeaway from the public is 'friends in cahoots to engineer a grass roots result.'"

White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said that Axelrod has had no communications with Healthy Economy Now or with Americans for Stable Quality Care, and his payments aren't affected by the ad contracts. Axelrod's son, a salaried AKPD employee, doesn't work with either coalition "or stand to benefit from that work," LaBolt said.

"David Axelrod has fully complied with the toughest-ever ethics rules for administration officials, including divesting from AKPD before the administration began," LaBolt said.

Ken Johnson, a PhRMA senior vice president, said GMMB and AKPD were the only two firms working on the $24 million in ads. He declined to reveal how much each was paid beyond saying that each received a small percentage of the total. The coalition's campaign team decided to hire the two firms, he said.

"In a perfect world, it's a distraction we don't need right now, but these are very gifted consultants who have done very good work," Johnson said. "And it's also important to remember that at the end of the day, the coalition partners determine the message."

Healthy Economy Now spokesman Jeremy Van Ess said the two firms were hired because "they are the best at what they do. Period." The coalition didn't seek approval or direction on any of its activities from the White House, said Van Ess, a partner in a consulting firm that has worked on Democratic Senate election activities and a former speechwriter for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

AKPD and GMMB both proudly proclaim their connections to Obama on their Web sites.

AKPD has a full page on Axelrod that includes pictures of Obama. In one photo, Obama hugs Plouffe on election night.

"We are deeply honored to have been part of Barack Obama's historic campaign to change America and the world," GMMB says on its Web site. GMMB's partners include Jim Margolis, a senior strategist for Obama's presidential campaign.

Both GMMB and AKPD also have worked for Democrats this year. The Democratic National Committee paid AKPD at least $106,000 for polling, media production, communication consulting and travel costs from February through April. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee paid GMMB roughly $75,000 from February through June for ads. And GMMB took in at least $9,000 this year from Senate leader Reid's political action committee for communications consulting."

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:yawn:

Your answer is right in the article that someone is trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

"David Axelrod has fully complied with the toughest-ever ethics rules for administration officials, including divesting from AKPD before the administration began," LaBolt said.
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That's way to long to read, can you summarize for us ADD people???

Coalitions of interest groups running at least $24 million in pro-overhaul ads hired GMMB, which worked for Obama's 2008 campaign and whose partners include a top Obama campaign strategist. They also hired AKPD Message and Media, which was founded by David Axelrod, a top adviser to Obama's campaign and now to the White House. AKPD did work for Obama's campaign, and Axelrod's son Michael and Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe work there.

is that somewhat shorter? :D

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Let's look at the obvious irony of any outrage.

Halliburton/KBR- What would their profit be, would you estimate? Could Cheney's past with this company hold sway?

Was work performed satisfactory, or even adequate for that matter? Remember, KBR is being investigated for a number of deaths due to faulty wiring in the showers. Our soldiers...

If there is any grift, at least a person might get health care out of it, rather than an ill conceived war, systematic overcharging, and fatally flawed work.

:popcorn:

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I've recently lightened up on these "connections" that the media makes out to be a big conspiracy. My thoughts: Everyone networks. Getting ahead and getting information is all about networking. Hell thats what a politicians job is! So why act surprised to find that people working towards the same goals know eachother?

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EVERYONE in washington profits off something or other. EVERYONE. thats just the way of the world. doesnt mean its right, or ethical, but it happens.

obamas cronies profit off health care, bush/cheney and the ilk profit off "nation building"... the list goes on.

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Let's look at the obvious irony of any outrage.

Halliburton/KBR- What would their profit be, would you estimate? Could Cheney's past with this company hold sway?

Was work performed satisfactory, or even adequate for that matter? Remember, KBR is being investigated for a number of deaths due to faulty wiring in the showers. Our soldiers...

If there is any grift, at least a person might get health care out of it, rather than an ill conceived war, systematic overcharging, and fatally flawed work.

:popcorn:

i guess i found the same irony but in a different light, I just remember the media shit storm that ensued when the cheney & halliburton thing came to light, and this has kind of been off the radar. Granted we're talking billions vs. millions, but in principle, pretty similar.

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i guess i found the same irony but in a different light, I just remember the media shit storm that ensued when the cheney & halliburton thing came to light, and this has kind of been off the radar. Granted we're talking billions vs. millions, but in principle, pretty similar.

Or advertising vs killing...

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It's not scary to me. I just don't want to pay for it. I already have health care. I don't care about poor people... so don't ask that question. We already have Medicare/Medicaid so I see no need for ANOTHER government program.

Ex wife was diagnosed with Huntington's Disease. Insurer dropped her, and with a pre-existing condition she cannot get new insurance. Medical bills forced her out of her home that was paid in full (thanks to my divorce...) You are paying for the poor now. The crap healthcare here made her poor. And before you go judging- she was once a Executive at Fox.

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Medicaid doesn't simply step up. To get on to Medicaid there was a lot of hoops to jump, forms to fill, and beaurocracy to satisfy.

In the time between going on disability and Medicaid covering her- about $100,000 in equity was burned through.

There has to be a better way. And paying insurance premiums and trusting the good will of a for profit company? Meh.

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I'm surprised you don't support the "huntington disease parity act" or HR 678. It seems this would solve your problem without providing universal healthcare to everyone, and probably give you better treatment and access to treatment.

Edited by dmagicglock
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It's my ex-wife, so it's solved.:o

The point being insurance stepped away when called upon. There was no existing alternative that was in place and ready to be called upon. End of point. My arguement ends there.

Have I seen other systems set up that worked more efficiently than Medicaid? Take a guess.

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