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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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 ANALYSIS 
41

Lieberman, Bayh Wives in Bed with Health Biz

Ties to pharma, insurers make filibuster threats suspect

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(Newser) – The threats from Sens. Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh to help filibuster any health reform bill with a public option should come as no surprise to anybody familiar with their family finances, writes Joe Conason. Lieberman's wife Hadassah spent 30 years working in the corporate health sector for pharmaceutical firms and the lobbying firms that represent them, while Bayh's wife Susan has made millions working for Wellpoint, America's biggest health insurer.

The Liebermans' fortune is modest in comparison to the estimated $5 million to $10 million the Bayhs have in the bank, but the devotion to public health Hadassah Lieberman "has long proclaimed is still tinged with hypocrisy," Conason writes in Salon. She serves as a paid ambassador for a breast cancer charity, he notes, so somebody should point out to her that the filibuster will be a "death sentence" for thousands of women who delay preventive medical care because of a lack of insurance.

Sen. Joe Lieberman is joined by his wife , Hadassah, as he tours the podium at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008.
Sen. Joe Lieberman is joined by his wife , Hadassah, as he tours the podium at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008.   (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, with wife Hadassah in background, addresses the crowd at his primary night headquarters in the Goodwin Hotel August 8, 2006 in Hartford, Connecticut.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, with wife Hadassah in background, addresses the crowd at his primary night headquarters in the Goodwin Hotel August 8, 2006 in Hartford, Connecticut.   (Getty Images)
In this Nov. 4, 2004 file photo, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., joined by his wife Susan, thanks supporters in Indianapolis.
In this Nov. 4, 2004 file photo, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., joined by his wife Susan, thanks supporters in Indianapolis.   (AP Photo/Michael Conroy )
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Despite all of his past promises to support universal healthcare, nothing was more predictable than the Connecticut senator's fealty to the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbyists. - Joe Conason

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41 comments
VIEWING:
 
Doctor_Zaius
Oct 30, 09 9:42 AM CDT
Surprise! Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
+13
IN RESPONSE:
Wonka
Oct 30, 09 11:19 AM CDT
Another reason not to trust so called Independents. So much for the Republican's plan B for 2010.
Vote up! Vote down!
+4
IN RESPONSE:
tomodachi
Oct 30, 09 11:29 AM CDT
US citizens need a law that allows them to collectively vote congress members out on their ear when they obviously are working against the US public. Congress members who sleep with corporations and then vote in the best interests of the corporations, to the harm of the voting population... should be Job-Failed. Lieberman is a perfect candidate for the program.
Vote up! Vote down!
+13
IN RESPONSE:
Doctor_Zaius
Oct 30, 09 1:54 PM CDT
What makes it even more rich, he ran in 2006 on the public option for health reform.
Vote up! Vote down!
+5
IN RESPONSE:
Newser001
Oct 30, 09 2:53 PM CDT
64%+ of his constituents want the NHI. On July 6, 2006, Lieberman promised "the people of Connecticut, I can do more for you and your families to get something done to make health care affordable, to get universal health insurance." Lieberman is nothing more than a sanctimonious self serving opportunist - What of his promises and why does the healthcare / insurance industries seemingly own him...?
Vote up! Vote down!
+1

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