Why is Koch Industries and the Chamber Getting Entitlements?

Yesterday it was in the news that Koch Industries, who spent millions of dollars opposing health care reform, applied for federal health care dollars to bolster its early retiree program. Today Healthwatch lists more than a dozen members of the board of directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have also applied for these hated federal funds including Pfizer, PepsiCo, New York Life Insurance Company, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Rolls-Royce North America. This past year the U.S. Chamber of Commerce rolled out $3 million a week to battle President Obama’s major agenda items. Now we find out that the chamber will spend some $75 million trying to unseat Democrats who voted for the health care law all the while its board members profit from it. In other healthcare news, Forbes magazine this week released its first-ever survey of America’s most profitable hospitals, reporting that 24 hospitals with more than 200 beds make 25 cents or more for every dollar of patient revenue they take in. In other words, if you get sick and it costs a million dollars to get you well - not uncommon in today's world, just the corporate hospital's CEO and stockholders will have skimmed off a quarter million bucks. And that doesn't begin to add in the other hundreds of thousands skimmed off by the health insurance banksters, and inflated drug company profits. No wonder Americans pay about twice as much as any other country in the world for healthcare, and executives in that industry are the richest in america.

Comments

TobyTouby's picture
TobyTouby 12 years 29 weeks ago
#1

When Big Money owns Washington, DC, we have no-one to blame but ourselves. It is just more of the fat-cats collecting on their big donations.

We MUST VOTE on November 2, and elect people who the changhe President Obama promised.

wmstoll's picture
wmstoll 12 years 29 weeks ago
#2

I would expect a successful business to take advantage of every government benefit they were entitled to. Why would anyone be surprised, and why blame the business. The business leaders would be negligent not to.

The 24 profitable hospitals are a differnt issue. You are looking at a very small piece of the hospital industry, and there is no mention as to why they may be worth the premium. Obviously, there is something that allows them to collect higher profits.

Alexander's picture
Alexander 12 years 29 weeks ago
#3

I honestly do not think the problems with healthcare will ever end. It seems a little, well actually it sounds typical that someone who spends all that money opposing something would try to profit from it. They should have saved their money.

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