Sister Act: Gov. Perry’s Little-Known Sister is a Lobbyist for Lucrative Doctor-Owned Hospitals
The glaring media scrutiny that helped derail Rick Perry’s presidential campaign never revealed that the governor’s older sister is a lobbyist embroiled in a national health-care debate. Milla Perry Jones is vice president of government relations at United Surgical Partners International, an Addison, Texas company that runs hospitals and surgery centers co-owned by doctors. Sister Jones works with trade groups to rebut claims that doctor-owned medical facilities inflate American medical bills. Both Governor Perry and his sister have championed doctor-owned facilities in Texas and Washington.
The trade publication “Who’s Who in the Ambulatory Surgery Industry” describes Milla Perry Jones as “a true advocate for the physician-owned healthcare model.” Industry publications say she manages United Surgical’s “state and federal advocacy efforts” and coaches entrepreneurial doctors on how to lobby public officials. The governor’s sister has held leadership positions with the Texas Physician Hospitals Advocacy Center and the Texas Ambulatory Surgery Center Society, both headed by Austin lobbyist Bobby Hillert. Hillert’s ambulatory group “supports physician ownership in all forms” and opposes “any attempts to ban or restrict physician ownership in Texas, in any manner.” Hillert says Milla Perry Jones sat on the PAC committee of his ambulatory group, which endorsed Rick Perry’s 2010 reelection. Milla Perry Jones declined to discuss her work with the Observer, referring all questions to Hillert. “I’m trying to be as helpful as I can,” she said before terminating the call. “I should’ve hung up two minutes ago.”
President Obama and other critics argue that doctors who own stakes in medical facilities drive up health costs because they have a financial interest in ordering excessive procedures. In one of many such studies, a 2006 federal report found that Medicare costs are 20 percent higher at doctor-owned orthopedic surgical hospitals than at competing community hospitals. These studies typically do not determine if the extra procedures are beneficial. The doctor-owned industry says it delivers superior care and points to contradictory research that does not associate doctor ownership with higher costs.
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http://www.texasobserver.org/obamacare-jags-rick-perrys-lobbyist-sister/
= new reply since forum marked as read
The only "value" of any relevance when it comes to understanding RepubliBabaggery.
regarding mandatory ultrasound before abortions.
GOP SOP: Pass laws that would line the already fat wallets of crooked doctors so the lobbyist sister of a crooked governor gets a kickback.
