Democrats: Protecting Their Own, Assaulting the Rest

By Michael Medved

Democrats in Congress display their special knack for corruption with their destructive assault on doctor-owned hospitals. Three times in the last year, the House or Senate passed bills banning referrals of Medicare or Medicaid patients to hospitals in which doctors own significant stock.

This would effectively shut-down smaller, specialized alternatives to often overcrowded metropolitan hospitals in a misguided attempt to control costs. But Democrat Senators Herb Kohl and Patty Murray want to make exceptions to the ban for medical facilities in their own states--specifically exempting doctor-owned hospitals in Wisconsin and Washington. In other words, Senators grab new power to crack down on hospitals they say they don't like--but then inspire gratitude, and probably future contributions, from constituents they've specially shielded from the general destruction. This is arrogant manipulation of the most transparent sort.