Why is a lobbyist for for-profit hospitals, nursing homes, and other health-care companies going to the White House tomorrow to participate in a health-care forum chaired by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius?
Because that lobbyist is also an elected member of the Maryland House of Delegates.
In Annapolis, Heather Mizeur represents the people of downtown Silver Spring and Tacoma Park as a state delegate. She serves on the Health and Government Operations Committee as well as the health & human resources subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee.
In D.C., though, Mizeur represents the nation’s largest for-profit nursing home companies and a handful of other for-profit health-care companies, as a founding partner in a lobbying firm.
Today, Delegate Mizeur, also a federally registered lobbyist, sent out an email that began:
Dear Friends,
Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll be joining 30 state legislators from around the country at the White House for a forum on health care reform. The meeting will be chaired by two of President Obama’s top health care advisors: Kathleen Sebelius (Secretary of HHS) and Nancy-Ann DeParle (Director of the Office on Health Reform).
Were this the stimulus bill rather than health-care reform, Mizeur would be banned from the meeting. There likely are very few state legislators who know health care more than Mizeur does–after all, she is simultaneously working on both the corporate and the lawmaking side of the issue. But her trip to the White House tomorrow highlights the difficulties of Obama’s pledge to drive the lobbyists from the temple of the White House.
