UnitedHealth Group makes billions of dollars a year by *overcharging* Medicare Advantage, according to an October 2024 report by HHS' Office of Inspector General, and a December investigation by the Wall Street Journal. The game is detailed here:

healthcareuncovered.substack.com/p/wsj-how-unit… Rep. James Clyburn, who was recently in congressional leadership and helped Biden take the 2020 nomination, just hired a UnitedHealth Group lobbyist, Acacia Salatti, as a senior advisor. She lobbied on Medicare Advantage and “surprise medical billing.”

readsludge.com/2025/02/20/top…

Meta spent more than ever before on lobbying in the first quarter, $7.6 million, as Congress advanced a potential ban on its rival TikTok.

The tech giant retained 20 lobbying firms to press its case with the government. Just a few of them... Democratic insider Steve Elmendorf with @TeamAvoq lobbied Congress for Meta on "protection of users."

A former chief of staff to Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt, he's also a prominent bundler for the DCCC, credited with $186,000 of contributions in January- February 2024.

No one is able to get Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to read this follow-up report from the National Institutes of Health and say, "Democrats will bring up legislation for single-payer Medicare for All that has majority support in our House caucus."

npr.org/sections/healt… Progressives' legislation propose governments pay for doctor’s visits, hospitalization, preventive care, long-term care, mental health, reproductive health, dental, vision, medical supplies, and prescription drugs. Like Canada's system, but more generous.

commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/amer…

"Over a period of two months last year, Cigna doctors denied over 300,000 requests for payments using this method, spending an average of 1.2 seconds on each case, the documents show."

propublica.org/article/cigna-… Democratic bundler Heather Podesta's firm @invariant lobbies for Cigna, and she lobbied for the company for most years from 2006 through 2018.

Invariant also lobbies for big business group @BizRoundtable, which includes Cigna's CEO David Cordani.

readsludge.com/2021/11/29/hea…

Remember how conservative Dems pretended to be worried about the deficit impact of the Build Back Better Act? The CBO found it would have been just $15.8 billion a year; Treasury found it would save $$.

Anyway, the Space Force got $26 billion this year:

therevolvingdoorproject.org/good-news-ever… Here is that Dec. 2021 letter from the CBO showing a meagre $158 billion impact over 10 years (in the context of a $6 trillion annual federal budget); and here is the Treasury finding that it would actually save $2 trillion.

Opponents of the BBB didn't like its social programs.

Joe Manchin took credit for juicing a carbon-capture tax credit from $50 to $85 per metric ton, opening up a huge new area of business for his top donor. Report by @donnydonny

readsludge.com/2022/08/29/man… There's a climate update in this story too. In December, @donnydonny noted that Manchin was helping his donor Enterprise Products gain approval of a gigantic oil export terminal off the coast of Texas. His side deal could push the facility through.

readsludge.com/2021/12/16/man…

In Biden, the Democratic Party establishment got an executive who would not use the EPA to enforce methane limits as a stick for climate legislation. Biden still hasn't declared a climate emergency.

Climate-dove DNC members have lobbied for the industry:

readsludge.com/2020/05/20/her… Biden's victory in SC and the rapid coalescing behind him came after an argument from some Democratic insiders that he was the most electable candidate. Cable news gave ample airing to this 'savvy' idea. In Biden, they put forward a nominee reluctant to use executive actions.

If Speaker Pelosi was so wrong about congressional stock trading that it reportedly took a discharge petition to get her to drop her opposition to allowing a vote on bills...

readsludge.com/2021/03/04/pel… Then maybe she's also wrong about accepting bundled donations from lobbyists who are working against the Democrats' agenda...

readsludge.com/2021/11/29/hea…

In 2016, the DSCC spent in the PA Senate primary to support establishment pick Katie McGinty over John Fetterman, who had said, "There’s no such thing as a green fracker." Their opponent Pat Toomey had raised a boatload from the energy sector.

eenews.net/articles/outsi… McGinty lost the 2016 general by about 1.7%, or 86,690 votes. If the PA Dems could have turned out 1% more of the state's registered voters to vote for the DSCC's pick, she'd be in the Senate.

Looking back, might Fetterman have turned out more voters?

thebrick.house/democrats-have…

72% of UnitedHealth’s $222.9 billion in health plan revenue last year came from taxpayers.

These are the enormous rivers of public spending on health care that industry incumbents try to keep out of the public eye, and out of Democratic Party reforms.

wendellpotter.substack.com/p/in-2021-72-o… "UnitedHealth reported 2021 profits of $24 billion on revenue of $287.6 billion. Executives told Wall Street they expect United will be the first insurer to take in more than $300 billion from its customers this year."

Not a poor business, human health!

wendellpotter.substack.com/p/while-united…

With the infrastructure bill signed, including $11 billion in funding for waste coal removal, and the clean energy standard blocked, Manchin will be rich for the rest of his life and his family company could hold a prime fuel contract until at least 2040.

readsludge.com/2021/10/09/fou… The $11.3 billion in funding for waste coal removal was found by @donnydonny because he took the time to read the 578-page Energy Infrastructure Act that was written by Manchin's Energy and Natural Resources Committee from July, w/ parts added to the BIF.

readsludge.com/2021/09/22/man…

Readers of NYT Magazine are learning that progressives who won in 2018 and 2020 helped a bountiful state budget that through the #TaxTheRich campaign finally invested in working people. This is what @NYGovCuomo and the @NYDems machine blocked for a decade

nytimes.com/interactive/20… New York City is recovering beautifully but my sense of justice can't let go that the outgoing @NYCMayor's persistent failure to effectively advocate for city revenue in Albany got bailed out this year. @BilldeBlasio is a horrible manager but open streets are working despite him.

Front-page NYT today is on some $120 billion in tax avoidance by execs in private equity industry, "which has a fleet of over 200 lobbyists and has doled out nearly $600 million in campaign contributions"

We've been covering centrist Dem ties on @Sludge:

readsludge.com/2020/05/06/got… If Democrats are upset by the long-term capital gains tax rate of 20%, they can ask committee heads why they continue to endorse Nancy Pelosi as Speaker. It's her call to back incumbents like @RepRichardNeal in primaries, when opponents call for changes:

thebrick.house/richard-neal-g…

Democratic leaders have had numerous disastrous wake-up calls to put out entirely different messaging (and entirely different faces). But the check-signers at the DNC / DCCC / DSCC have their old-friend networks in media and consulting, so little changes.

newrepublic.com/article/162723… The DNC does not release a list of its 447 voting members or top committee members, though state party leaders have called for transparency. @TheDemocrats structure is a black box not explained anywhere on its site. Many are corporate consultants, names:

readsludge.com/2020/02/24/top…

The @NYGovCuomo coverup is gathering attention in part because this is one of the few times he forgot the Boss rule: always use a messenger! Maintain plausible deniability. Threatening Kim directly changes story from gray Albany bureaucracy.

But Cuomo has a decade of scandals... After his 2010 election, the IDC formed in 2011, and controlled the NY Senate with Republicans starting in 2013. The system amassed Cuomo a huge war chest while centralizing power and denying responsibility for over two dozen progressive bills killed off.

politico.com/states/new-yor…

Notice how all the tweets and news stories tonight about the DNC Platform Committee votes don't include links to roll call of the ~164 voting members?

That's because @TheDemocrats decline to release a detailed list of DNC members and their committee affiliations. But at @Sludge, We obtained a copy of the full 447 voting DNC members, who make up the majority of 771 superdelegates, and got their committee affiliations.

We've been working our way through DNC committees: Exec, Rules, Budget, Resolutions, and coming next, Credentials:
readsludge.com/category/elect…

It's hard to overstate how dominant Comcast's power is in preserving its monopoly profits. The telco and NCTA trade association give a ton to lawmakers, lobbies policymakers federally and in states.

Comcast execs are max'ing out to @JoeBiden. New @Sludge: readsludge.com/2020/01/29/msn… @JoeBiden @Sludge the top-line numbers tell the story: in 2018, $CMCSA revenue from Internet alone was $17.14 billion, an increase of 9.3% over 2017, out of $55.14 billion total revenue on capital expenditures of $9.75 billion. Its overall earnings for the year increased 25.6% from 2017. Monopoly!

For the past 11 years, I worked as Product Manager for open-source web apps (OpenCongress, OpenGovernment, AskThem and Councilmatic). Over this time, we continually sought new ways to engage our users & newsreaders to become supporting members, for our independent sustainability. the @Join_Civil network is well-designed to support independent journalism projects. It's fully decentralized: @ReadSludge owns & runs our own site. It's open-source code, w/ built-in (optional) publishing to Ethereum blockchain, where our article archives can be openly accessed.