The lawmakers, federal appointees and congressional staffers who crafted Obamacare continue to get rich by going to work for the companies subsidized and regulated by the law.
Two weeks ago, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., a member of the Finance Committee’s health care subcommittee, bid adieu on the Senate floor to a longtime staffer, Priscilla Ross, with a truly impressive record of public service. After describing Ross’s broad range of skills and long list of accomplishments, Cardin said, on the Senate floor:
Ross, this week, began as “senior associate director for federal relations” at the American Hospital Association. In other words, she will help run the hospital industry’s main lobbying shop. Here’s how AHA describes her hire:
The “unprecedented changes happening in the health care field” are mostly the result of Obamacare, which Ross helped craft — exactly the point Nickels is making when he says, “Her background in health care policy will be an asset to hospitals as they navigate the transformation.”
If you read Cardin’s speech on Ross, it’s clear she was driven by a real desire to help the needy. But it’s also impossible to ignore the incentives that exist for staffers: Increase government’s role in a sector, through subsidies and regulations, and preserve the private-sector’s role. Follow this course of action, and you get rich. It’s wrong to say Priscilla Ross was motivated by this dynamic, but it’s hard to deny that her colleagues on the Hill see the way things work.
