Bush’s Medicare scheme has quickly become the biggest domestic debacle of his presidency. There’s the illegal bribe offers to lawmakers, the illegal silencing of administration officials, and the probably illegal refusals to share relevant cost information with Congress.
And now the Center for American Progress has discovered more bad news. In a report published today, CAP notes that 20 of the companies the White House approved to participate in its drug-car program have been charged at the federal and/or state level with fraud. Complicating matters, these 20 companies have given a combined $3.1 million to the president and conservatives in Congress since the 2000 election cycle.
Oops.
And that doesn’t even include the seven “Pioneers” ($100,000+ fundraisers) who are linked to companies approved for the program, three of which have been accused of fraud.
The Bush administration has promised the new Medicare drug discount card program will save all seniors money on their medicines. Yet, according to the Boston Globe, the White House allowed drug card industry CEO David Halbert (a longtime Bush campaign contributor) to be involved in the original crafting of the discount card program. The result is a program that enriches drug card companies at the expense of consumers. The cards do not guarantee any price savings for consumers, allowing drug card companies to change their “discounts” at any time in order to maximize profits.
Now, as the program is set to start, the White House has once again looked to its top campaign contributors in deciding which companies it approved to administer the cards. All told, the 73 companies selected gave President Bush and conservatives in Congress more than $5 million since 2000. Of those 73 companies approved by the administration, 20 (almost one third) have been involved in fraud charges. Those 20 companies made more than 60% of the total contributions to Bush and conservatives by drug card companies, calling into question whether the administration overlooked those companies’ records because of their financial ties to the Bush Campaign.
So companies that have been under investigation for fraud, and in some cases forced to pay fines to federal and local governments because of their behavior, have been approved to participate in the White House Medicare plan. Coincidentally, those same companies are responsible for generous contributions to Bush and the GOP.
Remind me, who was it who promised to “restore honor and dignity” to the White House?