As consumers get bilked so that health insurers can rake in profits to pay their shareholders and executives billions in combined stock value each year, one industry-backed congressional Democrat is inserting himself into the spotlight to proudly defend Big Insurance.
On Capitol Hill last week, the senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee used a high-profile hearing with health insurance CEOs from UnitedHealth Group, Cigna, Elevance Health, and Ascension to console executives, absolving them of blame for anything happening in health care right now.
A Politico story (headlined “In a twist, Republicans are demonizing insurers while Democrats defend them”) recounted the spectacle created by longtime representative Frank Pallone Jr (D-NJ).
“This is not your fault — this is the Republicans’ fault,” Pallone told the CEOs during last week’s hearing. “Don’t let them drag you in here and blame you for what’s going on.”
Pallone has raked in hundreds of thousands in campaign cash from the insurance sector in his nearly forty years as a congressman.
The last election cycle alone, Pallone was among the top five House recipients of donations from the health services and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) insurance industry, and together his campaign and leadership committee accepted tens of thousands in PAC donations from the country’s largest health conglomerates, including $44,000 from Blue Cross Blue Shield, $20,000 from CVS Health, $15,000 from Cigna, $15,000 from Humana, and $17,500 from UnitedHealth Group.
That means Pallone was speaking directly to some of his donors when he exonerated them for America’s health care woes.
In a Ways and Means hearing on affordability that the CEOs testified at later Thursday, chair Jason Smith (R-MO) fired back at Pallone.
“Instead of demanding answers, a senior Democrat reassured our CEO witnesses this morning, saying, ‘It’s not your fault,’” he said. “Maybe…
Auteur: David Sirota
