ex-Wellpoint VP Author of Baucus’ “Framework for Comprehensive Health Reform”

September 8, 2009 in Healthcare, Max Baucus

by JC

“The reason that I have a lot of friends is ’cause I got to give away money.”

Taxpayer money, that is.

Well, it was only a matter of time until the truth outs. The above quote is from Liz Fowler, one time Baucus staffer, then Wellpoint VP, whom Baucus hired on last year as “Senior Counsel to the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee.”

For those who may not recognize Wellpoint, they are the Blue Cross overlord for over 35 million people–the larget insurer in America. Here’s the outing:

Take a look at the document properties of the pdf that ew links to above. The author is Liz Fowler. The Liz Fowler who was vice president for public policy and external affairs for Wellpoint, the nation’s second-largest health-insurance company, until she re-joined Baucus’ staff in Feb. 2008. She had done an earlier stint with Baucus from 2000-2005.

It seems that the pdf that Baucus just released with his 18 page framework for health insurance ‘reform’ lists Liz Fowler as the author.

Liz Fowler, as some know, was the staffer that left Baucus’ office in 2005 to pursue a stint at Wellpoint. Whereupon she returned and was tasked with pushing current reform efforts through the Senate Finance committee.

This is an egregious example of the revolving door in D.C. that is emblematic of the corrupt, corporate, big money morass that has become known as our current Congress. Not only does our senior Senator wash himself in corporate and lobbyist health care dollars, he takes on one of their own to write his legislation for him, and to assist with a backdoor PR campaign to push Congress in his direction.

Why dis on this? Well, for starters, Wellpoint has just been accused of using its employees to lobby against reform, potentially illegally in California:

“Regrettably, the congressional legislation, as currently passed by four of the five key committees in Congress, does not meet our definition of responsible and sustainable reform,” Anthem [Wellpoint] said in a company e-mail last week. The proposals would hurt the company by “causing tens of millions of Americans to lose their private coverage and end up in a government-run plan.”

So, does Fowler, as past VP for “Public Policy and External Affairs for WellPoint, Inc” have Wellpoint’s current External Affairs VP on her side to sway Congress away from the other 4 committee’s health care bills and towards Baucus’? Very good question. Someone should ask her.

Politico gives us a little insight into Ms. Fowler:

The Backroom Operator: Liz Fowler

If you drew an organizational chart of major players in the Senate health care negotiations, Fowler would be the chief operating officer.

As a senior aide to Baucus, she directs the Finance Committee health care staff, enforces deadlines on drafting bill language and coordinates with the White House and other lawmakers. She also troubleshoots, identifying policy and political problems before they ripen…

She first worked for Baucus from 2001 through 2005, playing a key role in negotiating the Medicare Part D prescription drug program. Feeling burned out, she left for the private sector [to work as VP at Wellpoint] but rejoined Baucus in 2008, sensing that a Democratic-controlled Congress would make progress on overhauling the health care system.

Baucus and Fowler spent a year putting the senator in a position to pursue reform, including holding hearings last summer and issuing a white paper in November. They deliberately avoided releasing legislation in order to send a signal of openness and avoid early attacks.

“People know when Liz is speaking, she is speaking for Baucus,” said Dean Rosen, the health policy adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

One might say that Fowler and Jim Messina might be having some interesting conversations these days. So, when Fowler speaks for Baucus, does she also speaks for Wellpoint? And if Fowler authors Baucus’ bills, well, then, it isn’t much of a leap to see who she really is working for. So whom is Baucus really representing here? Wellpoint? Or the American people?

Fowler also was at the center of Baucus’ revamp of Medicare part D:

During her years on the Finance Committee, Congress was moving legislation to increase payments to healthcare providers… “When I was on the Hill, people liked me because I was working on bills that gave away money,” she says. “I always joke that the reason that I have a lot of friends is ’cause I got to give away money.”

But the signature legislative accomplishment, and personal experience, of her time with the Finance Committee was the Medicare Part D prescription-drug benefit. Fowler was at the center of negotiations that led to the 2003 enactment of the Medicare Modernization Act.

In 2006, Fowler had this to say about the changing environment in D.C.:

Fowler said that the Democratic takeover of Congress is a mixed bag for Wellpoint.

“…I’d say in some ways it’ll be a more challenging environment, but in some ways there are a lot more opportunities,” specifically related to the private sector’s role in any initiatives to reduce the number of people without health coverage.

Although Fowler did not want to speculate too much about what her professional future might hold, she did say there are things she misses about public life. “Eventually, I’d like to go back to government. I don’t know what that position might be.

Go back to government and “give away money?” Give away taxpayer money to businesses like Wellpoint to insure the uninsured?

Herein lies the $900 billion bailout of the private health insurance industry. Liz Fowler doing what she loves best: funneling money to corporations that in turn reward her with lavish VP jobs. I wonder what is on her radar after this stint?