Posted on 11/18/2011 2:51:00 AM PST by Fred
A think tank founded by GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich collected at least $37 million over the past eight years from major health-care companies and industry groups, offering special access to the former House speaker and other perks, according to records and interviews.
The Center for Health Transformation, which opened in 2003, brought in dues of as much as $200,000 per year from insurers and other health-care firms, offering some of them “access to Newt Gingrich” and “direct Newt interaction,” according to promotional materials. The biggest funders, including firms such as AstraZeneca, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Novo Nordisk, were also eligible to receive discounts on “products and workshops” from other Gingrich groups.
The health center advocated, among other things, requiring that “anyone who earns more than $50,000 a year must purchase health insurance or post a bond,” a type of insurance mandate that has since become anathema to conservatives.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Anyone miss Sarah yet?
______________________
Hell, I’m missing Gary Johnson.
I can’t do Newt.
He’s a near clone of Jimmy Carter politically, and he destroyed the conservative wing of the GOP when he was speaker.
I’m with Cain, and believe that he is the only one out of the current group that can win the general election. His candidacy will demolish the Dem plantation.
I’ve supported Ron Paul for congress in the past, but he sure ain’t running for president!
Yes!
I’m not against lobbyists, per se, but newt lobbied against us!
He lobbied to prevent the privatization of Freddie and Fanny.
Newt has been against us for his whole political career. He blunted the GOP majority in 95/96 and we’re still hurting from that fiasco.
I am extremely vigilant to the healthcare debate. I firmly believe the purpose and the outcome of Obamacare is to bankrupt the US private healthcare industry resulting in widespread financial collapse of the entire US economic system. I have watched the “Center of Health Transformation” and Mr Gingrich’s role in this entity.
Quite frankly, its a fly on an elephant’s ass. Its a very small organization, with very vague goals and has played almost no role in the healthcare debate. Mr Gingrich as an “advisor” was probably no more than paying him a decent salary to be a recognizable name for a floundering company.
They have played virtually no role in shaping the healthcare debate. Their mission statement has been to protect privatized medicine and keep patient accountability in play. They have discussed and promoted widespread integrated systems and reduced cost of care, which if you are aware of any of the environment of healthcare today, is a standard, entry level talking point.
I have said on this website I am now strongly in support of Gingrich, so I dont want to hide that position on this thread.
That being said, no one is more critical of government’s role in healthcare than myself. I am a doctor in private healthcare and the business of private healthcare is in serious jeapordy. The collapse of private medicine in the US will make the housing collapse look like pocket change.
And from this perspective, I see no problem whatsoever with Gingrich’s participation with this healthcare advisory company.
They have not demonstrated any anti-private healthcare positions, and have not done anything to jeapordize private healthcare in any way that I can see. Gingrich has been clear in his campaign about the repeal of Obamacare which imo is essential, necessary for any semblence of future US financial viability. The US cannot survive full implementation of Obamacare.
The argument of Gingrich’s participation in this company as somehow showing him to have a liberal, statist stance on healthcare, and /or supportive of Obamacare has no basis in fact for me. Please tell me where I am wrong.
Also, in full disclosure, this is a repeat post in a similar content thread.
its more likely Newt was paid for lobbying. He has access to congressman
You post on his site, and so yeah, that makes him your boss anytime you're here.
No, I'm just pointing out how hypocritical some people are being based on their previous comments about Newt on this forum.
A moderator is not a boss.
Ask your boss, Mr. Soros. He may have a different opinion.
What did you expect hundreds of thousands of businesses to do? Sit there and take it?
I know she likes Newt and I just pinged her. Onyx knows I was not in any way shape or form referring to her.
> It actually explains why Newt wandered off the conservative plantation, since he was being paid big bucks to do so. It also begs the question, did he do it for the money, or because he believed in it?
The problem is that either answer makes Newt unfit to be trusted.
Listen, I don’t want to tear into any of our own but if we have to vote for someone less optimal I want to have my eyes open about who it is we’re being asked to vote for and the likely result of electing them.
Some loose smears about he said/she said, that’s a hit job. Even if it were true about Cain that has NO bearing on the way he works on policy.
Newt’s actions are more troubling. For one thing, we can follow the money. It’s demonstrable. Looking at the amount of money and the institutions that grant it is a fact-based way of understanding the actions of a candidate, and I refuse to ignore that evidence simply because the current field for GOP presidency is looking somewhat grim.
I may well end up voting for Newt in the general (I just can’t bring myself to vote for him in the primary for many reasons which I would be happy to tell you about). But before I do, you can be certain I’m going to have taken a hard look at him and what it would mean for him winning vs. Zer0.
Consider this: A Zer0 will have a GOP Congress willing to fight him. A RINO Obamneycare mandate climate change loving socialist like Newt will have very little opposition... why? He’ll have an R after his name. The RINO establishment types will run rampant. You know they will.
> The GOP is dead, and FR just doesn’t know it yet.
I’m not ready to count the GOP out, but we DO need to throw as much of our muscle as we can to bring the GOP back to its roots. The danger in abandoning the GOP and not trying to save it is that the GOP, for all its flaws, has the machine in place to battle the Dims. I think that to start all that from scratch is going to be way more difficult than pounding on the Grand Old Party to return to its roots, tear down the RINOs and elevated the real conservatives.
We can do this.
Well said. I agree that there is too much in-fighting between those who say they are conservatives on this site. Also, too many conservatives on this site believe the liberal polls.
Thank you Shield for the links and information.
I have a better candidate in mind than Cain!
.
.
.
My candidate knows everything going on around the world!
.
.
.
My candidate never stumbles in answering! There will no embarrassing 11 second delays in answering questions on Libya!
.
.
.
Problem is my candidate has no powers of judgement, is not conservative by a long shot, but no one can beat my candidate on regurgitating any information!
.
.
.
My candidate is Wikipedia!
You are posting MSM SPAM intended to get Obama reelected. I’ll take Gingrich over Obama. I’m not a RINO.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
