The thirteen Male Republican Senators whom Mitch McConnell has selected to draft the AHCA in secret are in a unique position to profit from the ACA replacement bill they are drafting in secrecy says The Nation Magazine.
“One of the biggest scandals in American politics right now is that thirteen Senate Republicans are developing a health care bill that will impact one-sixth of the economy and the livelihoods of millions of Americans, and nobody knows the details. Republican senators outside that working group don’t know anything, much less their Democratic colleagues. There have been no public hearings, markups, or debates of any kind.”
-
“The health care legislation is ripe for stock-trading activity, political intelligence work, and even insider trading information,” said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen. “And when you take a look at the Republican health care bill, which is all being negotiated in secret, these guys—and not only the members of Congress, but the staff who are working on it—have an ideal opportunity to cash in themselves, or even provide information others to handle stock trading activity.”
-
“The thirteen senators working on the secret bill, and whatever staff members are aware of the details, surely know what industries will be winners and losers once the Senate draft bill becomes public Thursday. (Say, the degree to which medical device companies will see their tax burden eased, or if reimbursements for a particular type of medical service will change.) Even if the bill never becomes law, stock prices will jump as soon as the bill is released, and these people can make their bets now, ahead of the market.”
Yes, these thirteen men:
Not only have, literally, the lives or deaths, the livelihoods and solvency of millions of American Citizens in their grubby hands, but because of the way McConnell has chosen to proceed, they (and the friends they choose) have a unique opportunity to rake big bucks off the pain, misery and very lives of the constituents they have sworn to serve.
I hope there is an especially hot corner of Hell reserved for their eternity.
Their money won’t help them there.