The fiscal New Year started yesterday (October 1) and the first piece of legislation offered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was the $2.2 trillion Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act. Instead of passing a grab-bag of pet projects, lawmakers should provide actual relief to Americans suffering during the Covid-19 pandemic. If Congress passes another relief bill, it needs to be focused on the needs of individuals and small businesses. The HEROES Act spends money on a lot more than what is needed during the pandemic. Some of the questionable provisions include: $15 billion to bail out the United States Postal Service (USPS); $2.4 billion for Amtrak; $410 million for the Census Bureau; $175 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; and $75 million for the Essential Air Service. If Congress wants to help struggling Americans, fine, just don’t load up the legislation with nonsense.
TPA’s New Poll on Surprise Medical Billing
There is no doubt that surprise medical bills are a problem. A patient typically receives a surprise medical bill after being treated by an out-of-network doctor, usually at an in-network hospital or after visiting an emergency room. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has talked about ideas to fix this issue that have worked and that haven’t worked. We wanted to hear from you, so we conducted a poll in September. We found out that there is a high level of trust in doctors and nurses, while voters don’t trust the government to dictate healthcare prices.
Some Key Findings:
- Voters have a very favorable image of nurses (97%), doctors (92%), and hospitals (82%). Just 49% say the same about health insurers. The strong sentiment toward health care providers is a bipartisan one, as more than three-quarters of Democrats, Independents and Republicans have a favorable image of all three provider groups.
- The coronavirus pandemic has elevated trust in healthcare providers among these voters. When asked whether the pandemic has increased or decreased trust to look out for their best medical interests (or the medical interest of their families), 86% of these voters say their trust in nurses has increased, 78% say their trust in doctors has increased, and 65% say their trust in hospitals has increased.
- 91% of voters across surveyed states believe elected officials should support the interests of healthcare providers over the interests of health insurers, including 96% of Democrats, 91% of Independents and 86% of Republicans.
- 75% of those surveyed believe doctors should be the ones to come up with a fair amount that health insurers pay doctors for the medical care they provide.
- And, in cases of payment disputes, 74% of those surveyed support an independent third-party resolving the payment dispute rather than the federal government.
- Nearly 6-in-10 of surveyed voters (58%) are less likely to support the benchmark plan once they learn it is a step in the direction of a single-payer healthcare plan, including 83% of “strong Republicans.”
Doctors and nurses are risking their lives to care for sick patients during the pandemic. It is clear that lawmakers should stand with these healthcare heroes. Legislation that resembles rate-setting in any way, shape, or form will be met with strong opposition. By a clear margin, voters also make it clear they do not want a rate-setting law that opens the door to Medicare for All. Congress must move forward with a solution that protects patients and doctors instead of using federal fiat to subsidize big insurance companies.
Profile in Courage – Isabel Mercedes Cumming
I have such deep admiration for Inspectors General (IGs) because of their unrelenting efforts to root out waste, fraud, and abuse. TPA always tries to highlight their actions whenever possible. Baltimore, Maryland has become a special place for me because, over the past eight years, I’ve been analyzing waste, fraud, abuse in Charm City. In that time, I’ve learned that Baltimore has an extensive history of corruption and misuse of taxpayer dollars. Last year, Charm City taxpayers found out that then-Mayor Catherine Pugh was doling out contracts and selling influence to companies and interest groups that would buy her “Healthy Holly” books at inflated prices. The corruption ran deep as money was funneled to her campaign and businesses that Pugh had a financial interest in. Earlier this year, Pugh was sentenced to prison. Pugh’s case is unfortunately par for the course; the Mayor’s stormy departure was just the latest in a long line of mayoral scandals. Fortunately, Baltimore’s IG office is more than up to the task of holding these wrongdoers accountable. Baltimore IG Isabel Mercedes Cumming has left no stone unturned in rooting out wrongdoing and bringing a semblance of justice to a deeply troubled city. And for going to bat every day for Baltimore taxpayers, Isabel Mercedes Cumming is truly a Profile in Courage.
From the start of her career, Cumming was determined to hold crooks and cheats responsible for their misdeeds. In 1984, Cumming was hired by KPMG Peat Marwick in Baltimore City to examine and audit the finances of large financial institutions. She recounts, “I started working for KPMG during the Savings & Loan crisis, and I found fraud examining the most interesting part of the job. I truly loved it!…Back in the early 1980s, it was unheard of to have a career fighting fraud.” This fraud fighting acumen would serve her well during her six-year stint as an Assistant State Prosecutor with the Maryland State Prosecutor’s Office. During that time, she helped take down prominent, corrupt public officials such as former Comptroller Jacqueline McLean, who was hiring and paying sham consultants and research groups and directing city leases toward properties she owned.
Days after being chosen as Baltimore’s IG in 2018, Cumming made clear that “nobody is off limits. Overtime situations, theft of time. Purchase cards. There are so many areas that need to be looked at…I love going after white collar criminals.” At the time, then-Mayor Pugh sung her praises, stating Cumming “knows how to operate independently to be fair and just.” Maybe Pugh would not have been so effusive if she knew that Cumming would be actively investigating the Mayor’s Office for fraud. After media reports revealed that then-Mayor Pugh had cozy financial ties to the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), the IG’s office began to take a closer look at the city leader’s financial dealings. IG and federal investigations revealed a disturbing pattern: UMMS and other organizations such as health provider Kaiser Permanente were paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for Pugh’s “Healthy Holly” books in order to obtain lucrative contracts from the city. Pugh used the proceeds to buy a second house and illegally funnel money to her 2016 mayoral campaign.
Pugh may be behind bars, but that hasn’t stopped Cumming from continuing to hold public officials and contractors responsible for the scandal. A recently released IG report details Baltimore’s shady, longstanding master lease agreement with Columbia-based finance firm Grant Capital Management (GCM). In 2018, the company was awarded a new agreement despite filing a false affidavit claiming they had filed campaign finance disclosures. In reality, GCM never filed the disclosures, which would have revealed thousands of dollars’ worth of “Healthy Holly” book purchases.
Baltimore City taxpayers can rest easy knowing that the bad guys are always being watched by the Inspector General. And for looking out for a badly broken city, Isabel Mercedes Cumming is truly a Profile in Courage.
Blogs:
Monday: Importation of Drugs From Canada is a Bad Idea
Tuesday: New Poll Shows Healthcare Rate-Setting Is Politically Unviable
Wednesday: Profile in Courage: Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming
Thursday: Watchdog Praises Rejection of Nationalized 5G Plan by Prominent GOP Senators
Friday: FCC Efforts to Save Local Media Move Forward at the Supreme Court
Media:
September 26, 2020: The Galion Inquirer (Mt. Gilead, Ohio) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Lame-duck Congress isn’t all that it’s Quacked up to be.”
September 28, 2020: WBFF (Fox, Baltimore) interviewed me about the presidential debate.
September 28, 2020: The Hill quoted TPA in their article, “Poll finds support for independent arbiters resolving 'surprise' medical bills.”
September 28, 2020: Inside Sources ran TPA’s op-ed, “Power Hungry Lawmakers are the Problem, Not Large Companies.”
September 29, 2020: The Hill mentioned TPA in their article, “House GOP leaders rally opposition to Democrats' scaled-down COVID bill.”
September 29, 2020: The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.) mentioned the Coalition Against Rate-Setting in their story, “Trump administration rightly resists temptation to impose price controls on surprise medical bills.”
September 29, 2020: The Waco Tribune-Herald (Waco, Texas) ran TPA’s op-ed (original title was changed), “Antitrust laws risk being prostituted for political ends.”
September 30, 2020: Breitbart News mentioned TPA’s healthcare poll in their story, “Poll: 74 Percent of Battleground Voters Prefer Dispute Resolution over ‘Rate-Setting’ for Surprise Billing.”
September 30, 2020: The Epoch Times mentioned TPA in their article, “Mnuchin Is ‘Hopeful’ White House, Democrats Can Strike a Stimulus Deal.”
September 30, 2020: The Center Square ran TPA’s op-ed, “5G ... at the Post Office?”
October 1, 2020: I appeared on WBOB Radio (600 AM and 101 FM; Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk about the economy and the first presidential debate.
October 1, 2020: Townhall ran TPA’s op-ed, “WHO Peddles More Sham Science, Coddles Chinese Communist Party.”
October 1, 2020: WBFF (Fox, Baltimore) interviewed me about President Trump’s taxes.
October 1, 2020: I appeared on Florida Daily TV to talk about the first presidential debate.
Have a great weekend, stay safe, and as always, thanks for your continued support.
Best,
David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
1401 K Street, NW
Suite 502
Washington, D.C. xxxxxx
www.protectingtaxpayers.org
