Rep. Sullivan is a corporate sell-out, a toady of the health insurance corporations

Written by: T Nuspl on Sep 6, 2009 3:02 PM EDT

Review of Rep. Sullivan's town hall, Tulsa 31 Aug 2009

Rep. Sullivan has sold out to health insurance corporations

Tulsa, Aug 31 2009 -- Republicans were on the short end of the stick, today, at town halls called by Rep. Sullivan (R-OK1) . Many of the audience members, still supportive of Sullivan, are apparently still coming to terms with the change of administration in Washington. The fact that their representative will be unable to do anything, as a small time politician from a district relegated to the boondocks by the landslide elections in November 2008, is only just beginning to sink in. Some people are having are hard time adapting to the change. Today was one of the first times his constituents had a chance to speak to their representative publicly, since the presidential election last year, because Sullivan had gone to ground for several months after the watershed election turned out his party, losing control of the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and U.S. Presidency. At the Tulsa town hall, held at the TCC PACE auditorium, Sullivan admitted that Bush had done many things wrong, in allusion to both the Iraq invasion and the economic meltdown in the waning months of Bush's presidency. Sullivan suggested that perhaps Republicans had learned a lesson from Bush's mistakes. He did not go on to criticize former Vice President Cheney, implicated in ongoing investigations by the U.S. Dept of Justice for his role in the scandal about the use of torture in U.S.-run prisons abroad, since 2003.

In a very pointed intervention, one woman from OK1 explained how she could never again vote for any politician who supported the invasion of Iraq, a misguided foreign policy decision resulting in an interminable occupation of the country, at a cost of US $10 billion per month, and counting. That is the price tag put on the monthly occupation by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), a non-partisan branch of the federal government. At least US $940 billion has been spent on the occupation, at this point in time. The speaker asking Sullivan a question made it plain that this money, were it diverted to domestic use, would be more than sufficient to provide health care for each and every man, woman and child in the U.S. It is estimated that for the cost of just one day of the Iraq occupation, the U.S. could have funded 163,525 people with health care coverage (source: AFSC). Some 646,000 Oklahomans are forced to live without health care insurance, including 1 in 5 people in Sullivan's district (source: Kaiser Family Foundation) When confronted with the fact that 80% of those without care in this state are also too poor to afford private health insurance, Sullivan had no reply.

Meanwhile, one of the only issues Sullivan feels obliged to address, when interviewed for TV news, or when talking to constituents at today's town halls, is the likely demise of the “MedicareAdvantage” system of subsidies for private health insurers, providing seniors with extra types of health care coverage that are otherwise not covered by “Basic Medicare” parts A & B. (Things not covered by traditional Medicare include such things as prescription drugs, dental care, vision care and health club memberships). At issue is an optional and additional monthly premium payment for the private supplemental (“Advantage”) program, an expense that precious few seniors can afford, but which directly subsidizes the bottom line of private insurers by using tax-payer money. Sullivan is always willing to talk about this without any need of prompting. When he asked an audience at the town hall in Broken Arrow, last Monday, how many were covered by MedicareAdvantage, exactly no one raised their hand. When he asked the same question, later in the day at the town hall in Tulsa, only one person raised their hand. Out of touch with the issues of the day, Sullivan keeps harping away at a problem that the insurance companies are concerned about, as if he were their mouthpiece and not a spokesperson for the needs and interests of his constituents in his congressional district. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that administrative costs are far higher with MedicareAdvantage than traditional fee-for-service Medicare, so once again, Sullivan is defending an inefficient system, to serve his masters.

MedicareAdvantage is already a sort of head tax on seniors, an expense that usually comes right off their Social Security check, reducing their disposable income. But worse, the draconian limits placed on coverage in the current traditional Medicare program are causing a good deal of pain and suffering, and again, Sullivan has no ideas to offer about how to improve basic care for seniors. Worst of all is the question of how possibly to compare one American's pain and suffering --who at least benefits from some sort of government-sponsored care-- to another's pain and suffering who lives without any coverage at all, namely, the totally uninsured, ineligible for Medicare.

It's fair to say that Sullivan has no idea about people's right to healthcare, and no idea how to pay for the needed coverage. Earlier in the day, at a town hall in neighboring Broken Arrow, Sullivan brazenly attempted to defend the interests of those making over $280,000 per year, or even those making over $800,00 per year, attempting to immunize them from further taxation.

When asked by a woman in his constituency (who was deeply critical of his stance against the public option) Sullivan was unable to say anything about what is in his heart on the issue, or what dictates of conscience might sway him to vote in favor of the public option.

He has taken more than $536,000 in campaign donations from the health sector. Arguably, Sullivan's performances today in Broken Arrow and Tulsa reveal him to be a corporate sell-out, a shill for the private health insurance industries. In these respects, he resembles other politicians on the national scene who have been bought and paid for by private interests, and vote accordingly in Congress, such as Boren (D-OK2), Sen. Coburn (OK), and Sen. Inhofe (OK).

When discussing H.R. 3200 in particular, Sullivan explained: “I've actually read the bill. I just didn't understand it.”

This was partially criticism of Sen. James Inhofe, the senior senator for Oklahoma in the U.S. Congress, who admitted recently that he has not even read the bill that is the subject of so much acrimony this summer. The bill is likely a failed attempt to achieve bi-partisanship consensus on a solution to the health care crisis in this country.

There are other bills on the floor, notably H.R. 676, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised will be voted on this September, and in the Senate, S.B. 703, advocating for a single-payer national health insurance plan, providing universal and comprehensive care, without eroding any of the powers of the individual states in the Union. Sullivan did not make it clear whether he had read these other competing bills. Senator Kennedy, a long-time advocate of universal and comprehensive care for all Americans regardless of an individual's ability to pay, also introduced the “Affordable Health Care Act” in the U.S. Senate, prior to his untimely death last week. There is a movement afoot to have the upcoming health care reform act, whichever version ultimately passes, named in Kennedy's honor.

Some 20,000 people a year are said to die for lack of access to health care in America. At present, under the current conditions of economic recession, it is estimated that for every additional 1% increase in the national unemployment rate, an addition 1 million people fall off the health care rolls in this country, as they are no longer able to afford the premiums demanded by private health care insurance companies, without an employer to help cover them. With a six or seven point leap in national unemployment rates, another 6 to 7 million people may now be added to the existing 47 million uninsured Americans in this country. In addition to the new estimate of 53 to 54 million uninsured in the U.S., another 25 million American souls are under-insured, with incomplete or unreliable coverage.

An increasing number of Americans have come to realize that health insurance provided through an employer is NOT reliable insurance at all. Many argue for the need to switch to a public option, a government-sponsored privately-delivered health care system that would guarantee universal and comprehensive health care coverage, regardless of employment, and regardless of ability to pay. At a public demonstration held two days after Sullivan's poor performance in Tulsa, some 140 people brandished signs and chanted slogans in favor of the public option, on 2 Sept 2009, to voice their support in favor of a government-run health insurance program that would cover all Americans.

© Tony Nuspl 2009

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Location: Tulsa, OK