The Establishment Is Gearing Up Against Even a Public Option

The health care industry coalition that aired television ads vilifying Medicare for All during the presidential campaign is gearing up to block a promised public health insurance option — and is already calling on President-elect Joe Biden’s top health nominee to focus on fortifying the current private insurance–based health insurance system, despite his longtime support for Medicare for All.

On Monday, after Biden said he would nominate Medicare for All supporter Xavier Becerra as his health secretary, the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future (PAHCF) issued a statement saying they “look forward to working with the Department of Health and Human Services under the new administration to build on and improve what’s working, where private coverage, Medicare and Medicaid work together to expand access to coverage and care, and fix what’s broken.”

PAHCF’s members include top lobbying groups representing health insurers, drugmakers, and for-profit hospital conglomerates. Under the existing system that the group is defending, up to twelve million Americans have lost their medical coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, as health insurance industry profits have skyrocketed because people have avoided elective medical procedures.

Now, new financial disclosures reviewed by the Daily Poster shed light on just how much money PAHCF has been able to amass in its crusade to block significant health care reforms. In 2019, the group raised more than $55 million and spent roughly $20 million, ending the year with $36 million in assets, according to its tax return filed with the IRS last month.