Afrasianet - For the past several weeks, Senator Jane Shaheen has been critical of what she calls "dark money interests" who have been running cable ads urging her to oppose price caps as a way to solve the growing problem known as surprise medical bills.
Surprise medical billing is when a patient receives a bill for out-of-network care that they had no control over receiving for example, a patient receiving care in an in-network hospital by an emergency physician, not in the network. The patient has no control over this and then is burdened with a huge "surprise" bill because the insurance company refuses to pay for it.
Senator Shaheen wants you to believe that she is working for you by trying to solve this problem, but now she is bidding the insurance industry by insisting on "price capping" as a solution to this problem. "Pricing pricing" defines what doctors are allowed to earn through insurance companies. It gives insurers the ability to set their own reimbursement rates, and the incentive to make those rates unreasonable and unsustainable. This will put doctors and rural hospitals at risk of shortages and closures.
All of this leads to a bigger problem that exists. Senator Jane Shaheen has been in politics since 1976 when she worked on Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign. She was in elected office for 30 years after she was first elected to the New Hampshire Senate in 1990. She served as governor from 1996 to 2002 and is now preparing for a third term in the U.S. Senate. Jane Shaheen knows how the political process works and, sadly, how to make money from it.
In the first three months of this year, Jane Shaheen raised more than $$l.4 million and only 10% of that money came from people in New Hampshire.
Who is Jane Shaheen most interested in as she raises millions and millions of dollars from outside New Hampshire? How can we believe that Jane Shaheen cares about us when she raised over $200,000 from lobbyists, $300,000 from Wall Street, and she gets this, $70,000 from Blue Cross Blue Shield. Blue Cross Bue Shield is the insurance company that pushes for "price fixing" as a solution to surprise medical bills.
Jane Shaheen became the lady of manipulation. It attacks so-called special interests as a way to hide from the fact that it is in the pocket of the health insurance industry. She makes claims and wants us to believe that she is on the same side with Sen. Maggie Hassan on the issue of surprise medical bills, but she is on opposite ends. Senator Hassan co-sponsored a bill with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy as they promote independent dispute resolution rather than a "price-fixing" solution in the insurance industry.
Jane Shaheen wants to believe that she is for the people of New Hampshire. But the fact of the matter is that it continues to raise millions and millions of dollars a month from out-of-state, special interests, and lobbyists.
Just a little transparency and integrity would be welcome instead of pretending to be angry at Doctor Patient Unity while millions of vested interests and tens of thousands of lobbyists reap from the industry.
The Small Business Administration released the national data after several news organizations sued under the federal Freedom of Information Act. It amounted to about $2.5 billion for New Hampshire businesses and nonprofits through the S660 Billion program.
The SBA reviewed the amounts in ranges, including those that received loans of $150,000 to $10 million.
Loans will be forgiven if the money is used for payroll, rent, and other necessities and if repaid, they will be at a very low interest rate.
The program is part of the federal CARES Act that aims to help small businesses with fewer than 500 employees survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
Waterville Valley Holdings, owned by the family of Republican Gov. Chris Sonunu, received between $350,000 and S1million, according to SBA data. Sonunu served as CEO of the Waterville Valley Resort before being elected, but said he has stepped down since becoming governor. His spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. Senator Jane Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat whose family members own businesses that have received nearly $3 million in PPP loans, issued a statement saying she had nothing to do with their business and did not help apply for the loans.
Shaheen has been calling for more transparency regarding the loan program for months and has released loans below the $150,000 threshold for public disclosure to some family members. The law firm of her husband, William Shaheen, Shaheen and Gordon of Dover, received $1.2 million.
"Like many people in New Hampshire, my family members run or work in small businesses and have applied for PPP loans to keep their business and employees on payroll. I was not involved in any way in applying for those loans and had no connection with their business, and Congress had no role in processing PPP applications."
"I encourage the Trump administration to also announce the details of how Secretary Mnuchin spends an additional $500 billion that he has discretion over," Shaheen said.
Corky Meissner, one of the Republicans vying for the chance to run against Shaheen, received between S2 and $5 million for his law firm in Colorado.
His spokesman, Mike Biondo, said, "While Corkey is not involved in the day-to-day operations of Messner Reeves, he was already aware of the decision to apply for PPP funds. Hundreds of Messner Reeves employees, hard-working men and women from all over our country, rely on their income to support themselves and their families. This pandemic has hit us hard and we can only hope that we can all come out of this stronger."
A company run by Travis Koster, son of Democratic Rep. Annie Koster, AEF Ice Systems, has received a $63,000 loan from public-private partnerships, its spokesperson said.
Several New Hampshire law firms have received forgivable loans, including Sheehan, Phinney Bass, Green, and McLane Middleton that each received between $2 million and $5 million and Devine Millimet and Reno that each received between $1 million and $2 million.
New Hampshire news outlets on the list include: Union Leader Corp., which received between $1 million and $2 million. New England newspapers, which own the Concord Monitor, Valley News and several other newspapers, received between $2 million and $5 million. Kane Publishing, publisher of Ken Sentinel, between $350,000 and $1 million; Lakes Region News Club, publisher Laconia Daily Sun, between $150,000 and $350,000; Yankee Publishing, owner of New Hampshire Business Review, between $1 million and $2 million, and WBIN Media Co. Inc. in Portsmouth between $1 million and $2 million.
New Hampshire Public Radio received between $1 million and $2 million and NH PBS received between $350,000 and $1 million in forgivable loans both nonprofits.
A list of all New Hampshire companies that have received public-private loans in excess of $150,000.
Fourteen non-profit corporations in New Hampshire have received the largest forgivable loans ranging from $5 million to $10 million: Air General Inc. in Portsmouth, Androscoggin Valley Hospital in Berlin, Concord Regional Visiting Nurses Association, Eastern Propane Gas Inc. in Rochester, Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro, Greater Manchester Mental Health Center, Microdesk Inc. in Nashwa, Napoli PSC Series LLC in Amherst, New England Finish Systems LLC in Salem, Planesense Inc. in Portsmouth, Riverbend Community Mental Health of Concord, Select Demo Services LLC of Salem, Speare Memorial Hospital in Plymouth, and Granite Group wholesalers in Concord.