Desperate despots try to intimidate insurance execs

This is a blatant intimidation tactic by Waxman and company. FoxNews:

In a move some fear is a reprisal for opposing President Obama's health care plan, Democrats sent 52 letters to health insurers requesting financial records for a House committee's investigation.

Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Bart Stupak, D-Mich., sent a letter warning health insurers that the House Energy and Commerce Committee is "examining executive compensation and other business practices of the health industry."

Waxman, chairman of the committee, and Stupak, chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee did not inform their Republican counterparts of their plans.

Health insurers have until Sept. 4 to provide Congress a detailed list of every employee who made over a $1 million dollars a year between 2003 and 2008. Democrats also want documents about conferences and any events held off company property as well as the types of transportation, lodging, food, entertainment and even gifts exchanged.

Raising the intimidation stakes: the Waxman letter offers insurers no explanation of what is being investigated or why.

Industry insiders fear the beginning of reprisals for anyone daring to dissent from the Obama agenda. One said it feels like a reprisal audit by the IRS. [. . .]

But Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for the American Health Insurance Plans, said Democrats on the panel hoped to "silence the health insurance industry and distract attention away from the fact that the American people are rejecting a government-run plan" as part of Obama's planned overhaul.

Zirkelbach said it would be up to individual companies to decide whether to turn the records over.

Spokesmen for three large insurance companies, Aetna, UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc., confirmed the firms had received the letters but declined comment.

From the WSJ:

Much of the information requested in the letter is available in public documents, Mr. Curran added, and the company has no problem turning it over.

So clearly, this is more about intimidation and demonization than "fact-finding."

The congressmen also want information "listing all conferences, retreats or other events held outside company facilities from January 1, 2007, to the present."

I think I get it. When a private company spends its own money on lavish retreats it's immoral, but when Congress spends taxpayers' money on their junkets it's above reproach?

Says Mark Steyn:

They're supposed to be representatives not rulers. George III couldn't have got away with a letter like that.

From Carol Platt Liebau:

The reason is obvious: The Dems, led by Henry Waxman, are bullying the companies in order to secure their silence in the health care reform debate. Any executives or companies who dare speak out will, no doubt, be treated with less politesse than those who simply roll over and submit to whatever legislation the Democrats are preparing to push.

Now think about it: Who would want this thuggish Capitol Hill gang empowered to make health care decisions for the rest of us?

Rush Limbaugh:

So here you have this little power hungry guy sending out these threatening letters. This is all about scaring these people. This is about getting them to go along with the plan.

This is about forcing them by virtue of fear and intimidation. This is the way they did it in Russia, the Soviet Union. This is the way of the world in most places: harassment, intimidation, extortion.

Next, look for ACORN members and thugs in purple shirts being bussed into neighborhoods where insurance company executives and their families live. America must be made to see the insurance industry, not the US Congress, as the enemy.

Don Surber says "Insurers should tell Congress no." Yes, please. Someone needs to stand up to these bullies.

Comments welcome.
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