Today in Washington D. C. - Sept 24, 2009 - DHHS Banning Free Speech Issue Continues

Senate resumed consideration of H.R. 2996, the fiscal 2010 Interior-Environment appropriations bill. The bill provides $32.1 billion in discretionary spending, a $4.5 billion increase from last year. Votes on amendments are expected throughout the day. Yesterday, the Senate voted to table a motion from Sen. David Vitter (D-LA) to return the Interior appropriations bill to committee and have it immediately reported back with an amendment to bar funding from being used to delay leases for offshore drilling for oil and gas.

The latest developments in the uproar over the Department of Health and Human Services issuing what amounts to a gag order to Humana and other insurance companies over communications with customers about potential cuts to Medicare Advantage focuses again on Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT).

The Wall Street Journal editors write today, “Maybe Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus should put a gag order on Douglas Elmendorf too. On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office director told Mr. Baucus's committee that its plan to cut $123 billion from Medicare Advantage—the program that gives almost one-fourth of seniors private health-insurance options—will result in lower benefits and some 2.7 million people losing this coverage. Imagine that. Last week Mr. Baucus ordered Medicare regulators to investigate and likely punish Humana Inc. for trying to educate enrollees in its Advantage plans about precisely this fact.”

The new revelation is just which Medicare regulator went after Humana at Baucus’ urging. Roll Call reported yesterday afternoon, “Jonathan Blum, the administration official at the center of a growing flap over alleged efforts to ‘muzzle’ insurance companies critical of Democratic health care reform efforts, is a former senior aide to Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) — who originally asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to investigate the companies critical of his bill. Blum, who worked on the Finance Committee on Medicare and Medicaid issues, was appointed by President Barack Obama as acting director of CMS’ Center for Drug and Health Plan Choices this spring.”

As Red State’s Brian Faughnan points out, it’s worth recalling that Baucus and his allies seem to be involved in a number of press reports on pressure tactics during the health care debate. On June 30, Roll Call reported, “After pressure from Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus’ (D-MT) senior committee staff, the Laborers’ International Union of North America has done an about-face and will pull its television ad buy targeting Baucus and Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) starting Wednesday.” In an article titled, “Baucus ups pressure on health groups,” Politico reported a few days earlier, “The Senate Finance Committee is pressuring hospitals and insurers to follow the lead of the pharmaceutical industry and pony up to help pay for health reform, industry insiders say.” And on June 11, Roll Call reported, “Top aides to Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) called a last-minute, pre-emptive strike on Wednesday with a group of prominent Democratic lobbyists, warning them to advise their clients not to attend a meeting with Senate Republicans set for Thursday.”

Do Democrats find any of this troubling? Pressed during debate in the Senate Finance Committee over the Humana issue, Baucus seemed to shift his rhetoric a bit, saying “maybe CMS overstepped,” according to Politico. The Wall Street Journal editors are clearly incensed about this whole episode and blast Baucus today, saying that neither administration allies like the AARP nor insurers “should be muzzled in a political debate . . . especially by an influential Senator getting favors from his crony in a supposedly impartial regulatory agency that has enormous power to harm or destroy private companies. Seniors have a right to know how they may be affected by Washington's health-care planning.”

To repeat from yesterday,  Sen  McConnell said, “Over the past several months, we’ve seen a pattern of intimidation by supporters of the administration’s health care proposal — including efforts to demonize serious-minded critics at town hall meetings across the country. Now we’re seeing something even worse: the full power of the federal government being brought to bear on businesses by the very people writing the legislation. This was troubling enough in itself. It’s even more troubling now that we’re told that Humana was exactly right in what it was telling clients. Americans were already skeptical about the administration’s plan. They should be even more skeptical now.”

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