Obama health czar directed firms in trouble

MSNBC/Investigative Reporting Workshop, American University ^ | 2 July | Fred Schulte

[flowerplough]

(sub-headline: DeParle made millions from companies under federal investigation)

Nancy-Ann DeParle, President Barack Obama’s health policy czar, served as a director of corporations that faced scores of federal investigations, whistleblower lawsuits and other regulatory actions, according to government records reviewed by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University.

Several of the companies were investigated for alleged kickbacks or engaging in other illegal billing schemes, while others were accused of serious violations of federal quality standards, including one company that failed to warn patients of deadly problems with an implanted heart defibrillator. Several of the cases ended with substantial fines paid to the federal government, even though the companies admitted no wrongdoing.

( ... )

Named by Obama in March as director of the White House Office of Health Reform, making $158,000 a year, DeParle is the point person in pushing for the administration's plans for changing health care and the ways Americans pay for it — changes in which her former companies have a great deal at stake.

[flowerplough]

But she probably paid income tax. They've had enough experience now to avoid picking another tax cheat, surely.

[Lorianne]

Wow, this is amazing, even by Obama appointment standards.