THE TRUTH ABOUT THE STIFFENING HEALTH CARE OPPOSITION: FOLLOW THE MONEY

Originally published in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

President Obama's news conference on health care last month covered the policy issues in the battle for reform "" cost, coverage, and urgency. Unfortunately, there's a lot more to the fight.

The opposition to health reform is a tangled web of vested interests with major financial stakes in maintaining the status quo, no matter how broken it is. That's one main reason America is the only developed nation in the world that doesn't provide healthcare to its citizens.

Rick Scott, president of Conservatives for Patients Rights, is flooding the airwaves and funding disruptions of congressional town halls, warning about "government run" healthcare.

Yet Scott was ousted from his former company, for-profit hospital operator Columbia/HCA, before the company pled guilty to 14 felonies, paying the largest fraud settlement in American history "" 1.7 billion dollars. Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat, said, "Rick Scott pushing health care reform is like Bernie Madoff attempting to regulate the financial industry."

According to recently published Congressional financial disclosures, 30 key lawmakers involved in health care legislation total nearly $11 million worth of personal investments in the healthcare sector.

Perhaps one of the most egregious examples because of his constant criticism of reform is Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), the Obama nominee for Commerce Secretary who withdrew because of opposition to the Administration's agenda. A senior member of the health committee, he just disclosed owning $254,000-$560,000 in stock of health care companies.

The health care industry is spending $1.4 million dollars per day to lobby against reform, and spent $126 million on lobbying in the first quarter, leading all other groups. Three of every four major health firms hire at least one lobbyist who previously worked for a congressman; 49 of the 136 lobbyists employed by PhRMA are former congressional staffers who retain cozy Hill relationships.

At a news conference July 28, in response to our question on the industry's influence, House Speaker Pelosi asserted, "The glory days of the health insurance industry are over. Their profits are obscene."

Opponents of health reform claim that by preserving our private-only insurance system, they're looking out for us, the consumer.

Is that why over the past five years, health insurance premiums have risen 5.5 times faster on average than inflation? Or why, according to a report released this year by the Senate Commerce Committee, "Consumers have paid billions that their insurance companies should have paid"?

Like many for-profit companies, our healthcare providers just want to make a killing. The last thing these corporations want is to compete with a transparent public healthcare option that all Americans can afford. Wendell Potter, former spokesman for Cigna, said that the industry has launched a "charm offensive" to "shape reform in a way that benefits Wall Street far more than average Americans."

Opponents keep citing the CBO's estimate that reform may cost $1.6 trillion. Yet we've spent six trillion dollars bailing out financial institutions, and one trillion on Iraq only to discover that there were no WMDs and al Qaeda is actually in Afghanistan. Is health less valuable? The health cost is not only reasonable and now includes major cost-cutting strategies but most importantly will save consumers significant sums.

Responding to another question at the July 28 news conference, Pelosi confirmed that "of course" CBO should measure consumer savings. Ways and Means Committee Chair Charles Rangel has said, "The CBO does not score savings of people in their own pocketbook that could be $2 trillion."

Our current system is the most expensive in the world per capita, yet ranks a pathetic 47th in the world in life expectancy and 43rd in infant mortality. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius recently said, "Everyone wants to believe we have the best care in the world. We don't. We spend twice as much and are sicker and die sooner."

Florida's system is among the worst in the country, ranking third in percent of residents without health insurance "" a whopping 20.5 percent, or 3.7 million Floridians. Three million Floridians count on Medicare. Yet Republican National Chair Michael Steele, condemning Obama's health reform last month at the National Press Club, tried to justify Republicans' opposition to Medicare in the 60's by saying that even now, "There is a debate on the overall impact of Medicare on costs and the social fabric." Apparently Republicans would still vote TODAY against Medicare.

Obama and the Democrats have brought everyone to the table. It has not worked. Stephen Colbert joked that having insurance companies at the table in this debate is "like inviting a drug dealer to your intervention."

Opposition is stiffening from key business groups like the National Association of Manufacturers, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Business Roundtable. The insurance industry is one of their key constituencies, and the insurance companies want the highest profit possible. The sooner we realize they're not on patients' side despite reform's potential savings to business and consumers, the sooner the nation will achieve health care for all and save lives.

Weiner was Chief of the Staff of the U.S. House Aging Committee and Health Subcommittee under Chairman Claude Pepper (D-FL) and spokesman for the White House Drug Policy Office. Jordan Osserman, from Boca Raton, is policy analyst at Robert Weiner Associates.