"Hoo Owns the Candidates?" Mike Braun, Part 2
The Medical Industrial Complex
This is the third in a series entitled “Hoo Owns the Candidates?” wherein we look at the money flowing into the coffers of Hoosier political candidates as they gear up for 2024. Today, we take another look at Senator Mike Braun, who is vacating his seat in Washington to run for Governor. Part one of the Mike Braun series, on his donors in the RV industry, can be found here. My first installment in the “Hoo Owns” series was on U.S. Senate candidate Jim Banks, and can be found here.
I need not tell you that American healthcare is broken. You know it. I know it. The signs are obvious. We spend twice as much as any other developed country, yet have worse outcomes. Americans are fatter and sicker than their peers. We see our primary doctors less, and receive less preventative care, but use expensive technologies and procedures more frequently. In the industrialized world, the US has just about the highest number of hospitalizations from preventable causes and the highest rate of avoidable deaths.
The United States of America is the ONLY wealthy, industrialized nation in the world that does not have at least some form of universal health insurance. As the richest country in the world, this is criminal. With the most resources, we SHOULD have the globe’s BEST healthcare system. However, what we’re left with is the globe’s most PROFITABLE healthcare system.
We’ve tried to fix things…
Way back in 1917, the American Medical Association endorsed compulsory health insurance, but quickly backtracked when, against the backdrop of World War, certain powerful physicians labeled the scheme a dangerous, German invention.
In 1949, President Truman proposed a universal, tax-financed, government-run health insurance program. A vast majority of Americans supported the plan. The AMA financed a successful lobbying campaign to drive down public support and ultimately kill the proposal.
In the early 1960’s, as the Kennedy-Johnson administration began to introduce the legislation that would become Medicare, the AMA contracted some B-list actor, a General Electric and Chesterfield cigarette pitchman named Ronald Reagan, to produce a spoken-word album on the evils of socialized medicine.
The AMA has softened its position over the years, largely remaining on the sidelines during the fight over Bill Clinton’s failed 1993 healthcare proposal and mostly supporting Obama’s Affordable Care Act in 2009. Far too many physicians, however, still fight against a publicly-funded universal healthcare system because it might effect their personal bottom line. I’m not doctor, but I am of the opinion this violates their Hippocratic Oath to do no harm.
Mike Braun has been an opponent of public healthcare at every turn. During his 2018 Senate run, Braun ran on repealing Obamacare and replacing it with “free-market solutions.” What’s his idea of a quality free-market solution? Well, a 2018 Politico article describes the health insurance offered to his employees at Meyer distributing as high-deductible, low-benefit, and “not real insurance”.
Today, we look at the Hoosier doctors, pharmacists, and the various executives and administrators who have contributed over $10,000 to ensure Braun’s election as governor, and how they’ve grown unimaginably wealthy under the same broken healthcare system that has provided the vast majority of us with poor outcomes.
James Stevens, Fort Wayne, $51,000 - According to the American Brain Foundation, Dr. Stevens “has been a private practicing neurologist and specialist in sleep disorders medicine at the Fort Wayne Neurological Center for the past 32 years.” He is also a professor of neurology at IU School of Medicine. He is a past president of the Indiana Neurological Society, serves on the executive committee for the Lutheran Hospital of Indiana, and serves as chair of the board of directors for Physicians Health Plan of Indiana, a private health insurance provider. High-priced specialists like neurologists and orthopedic surgeons tend to be Republicans, whereas general practitioners, pediatricians, and psychiatrists tend to vote Democratic.
James Cornelius, Zionsville, $10,000 - Mr. Cornelius is longtime pharmaceutical executive. He currently sits on the board of MBX Biosciences, a Carmel-based drug discovery company. Previously, Cornelius served as CFO and board member at Eli Lilly rom 1983-1995, board chairman and CEO of Guidant Corporation from 1994 to 2006, chairman of the board and CEO of Bristol Myers Squibb from 2008 to 2015, and chairman of the board of Mead Johnson Nutrition from 2009 to 2017. Additionally, he has served on the board of directors of a dozen other companies, including Chubb, DirecTV, and Given Imaging. Finally, he also oversees the Cornelius Family Foundation and Cornelius Private Investments. The foundation has given away millions of dollars, much of it going to Roman Catholic organizations. Politically, Cornelius has contributed many hundreds of thousands of dollars to candidates and committees over the decades, overwhelmingly to Republicans.
April Sasso, Carmel, $25,000 - Speaking of high-priced specialists, and folks with a soft spot for archconservative Catholic organizations, April is married to Rick Sasso, "a world-class — and that’s not exaggeration — spine surgeon […] He goes all over the world and gives instructions on how to do spine surgery," according to a 2018 article in The Indiana Lawyer. He is also a medical device inventor and President of Indiana Spine Group. In 2018, he won a $112 million verdict against Medtronic for unpaid royalties. She does a lot of philanthropy work through the Indianapolis Catholic archdiocese, including serving on the board of Women’s Care Center, one of those fake “crisis pregnancy centers” that are really anti-abortion front shops.
Indiana Spine Hospital, Carmel, $50,000 - According to their website, “Indiana Spine Hospital is a Center of Excellence for the comprehensive care of patients with spinal disorders and abnormalities. We are a destination medical facility providing a unique environment for the comprehensive care of all patients with spinal disorders.” Ownership is difficult to decipher, as the company 2700 Market, LLC, is listed as their registered commercial agent. Furthermore , 2700 Market - which is located at the law offices of Dentons Bingham Greenebaum in Indianapolis - is the registered agent for hundreds of businesses throughout Indiana and beyond. Dr. Rick Sasso, previously mentioned, is just one of the orthopedic surgeons practicing at ISH.
Rheumatology of Central Indiana, Fishers, $45,000 - “Rheumatology of Central Indiana, with offices in Muncie, Richmond, New Castle, Greensburg, Shelbyville, Kokomo, and Marion, Indiana, combines medical expertise with cutting-edge technology to provide patients with the highest quality of care,” according to their website. Dr. Tarek Kteleh started the practice in 2018. He has an extensive history of political donations - bipartisan, mostly smaller - but nothing this large until now.
Pinnacle Hospital, Crown Point, $15,000 - Pinnacle is a small, physician-owned medical facility with just 18 beds and five operating suites. Executive Director Haroon Ansari (aka Haroon Ansari-Naz) has an extensive history of fraud, and has run up against the law in multiple states for his crimes. There is a 2018 Amazon documentary about the case that brought Ansari infamy, at Crownsville Hospital in Baltimore, where he was fired as the superintendent of this psychiatric facility because he falsified a doctoral degree and two master’s degrees on his résumé. A 2020 post on Medium from J.T. Lancaster elaborates that he founded River Pointe Surgery Center in Elkhart less than six months after serving jail time in Michigan for violating terms of his Maryland probation. He has founded several more medical facilities in Indiana since that time, probably falsifying documents each step of the way. Big fat political donations could be a good way to keep state regulators from digging too much.
Ken Jackson, Fishers, $10,000 - President/CEO of Heartland Ambulance Service. According to his bio on the company website, “Kenneth Jackson has been actively involved in the Emergency Medical Service Industry since 2003. He started his first ambulance service with one truck and grew it to over 40 ambulances and over 100 employees. Seven years later he sold his shares in that company and in October of 2010 he started Heartland Ambulance Service. His vision is to offer the best service and quality care for individuals in need. Kenneth serves on the D.A.R.E Indiana Board of Directors, the Indiana Emergency Medical Services Association, and the Indiana Emergency Medical Task Force.” Here’s two numbers that show how screwed the American healthcare system really are: most Americans can’t cover an emergency $400 expense, while the average cost of an ambulance ride is $1,300.
Nathan Gabhart, Loogootee, $10,000 - Gabhart, a pharmacist by training, founded and serves as Chairman of TrueScripts, a pharmacy benefit management (PBM) company based in Washington, IN. According to NAIC, PBMs “are third party companies that function as intermediaries between insurance providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers. PBMs create formularies, negotiate rebates (discounts paid by a drug manufacturer to a PBM) with manufacturers, process claims, create pharmacy networks, review drug utilization, and occasionally manage mail-order specialty pharmacies.” Gabhart also serves on the Daviess County Board of Commissioners, the Indiana Pharmacies Alliance - where he was president in 2014, and the Community Pharmacies of Indiana, where he was president from 2010-2014. An active Catholic, Gabhart last year was appointed to the St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology Board of Overseers.
Ben Park & Teresa Aponte Park, Zionsville, $10,000 each - Dr. Ben Park founded American Health Network - a Carmel-based physicians group of over 300 primary care doctors and specialists in Indiana and Ohio- in 1994. AHN was acquired by Optum - the division of insurance behemoth United Healthcare handling prescription drugs, business services, and technology - in 2017 for $184 million. He moved on to become President/CEO of VoCare. Dr. Park has donated tens of thousands to Republicans over the years, with a little thrown in for corporate Democrats like Evan Bayh.
Justin Journay, Fishers, $25,000 - CEO of 3C Labs, a cannabinoid research and manufacturing firm based in Carmel. They produce “cannabis products, including vapes, edibles, tinctures, concentrates, terpenes, and bulk oils.” Although cannabis remains illegal in Indiana, CBD and Delta-8 THC were essentially legalized by a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill, which allows hemp-derived products. Braun has been remarkably liberal on legal weed, saying of medicinal use, “I believe when it comes to medical marijuana, there are too many good reasons why you need to start making that legal for that purpose,” and takes a “states rights” position on full legalization. Braun and Montana Democrat John Tester introduced a bipartisan bill to cut regulations on the hemp industry, which surely makes our guy Journay happy. Would a Governor Braun fully support legalization and does Journay even want to see that? Would the real stuff cut into 3C’s market share OR do they want to see legalization because they’ve already got a leg up? Whatever the reason, Justin’s contribution history suggests he’s greasing the palms of Indiana GOP leadership to make it happen.
Michael McCormick, Scottsdale AZ, $10,000 - Though long-retired to Arizona, McCormick was once Partner at Bindley Capital Partners. Actually, his bio is still listed on the company website and uses the present tense, but his extensive, many hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of campaign finance history starts listing his occupation as “retired” in 2003. BCP was founded in 2001 to manage the capital of Bill Bindley, Chairman and CEO of Bindley Western Industries, a $10 billion NYSE pharmaceutical distribution and services company he sold to Cardinal Health in that year. In the decade before the sale, the Bindley Western team, of which McCormick was a member, completed over 20 acquisitions, including the five that were combined to form Priority Healthcare, which was a pioneer in the specialty pharmacy market, before being spun off and sold as well. A longtime Zionsville resident, McCormick has continued to pump cash into the campaign coffers of Indiana Republicans from afar.
Stuart Reed, Indianapolis, $100,000 - President of Magnolia Health Systems, which operates 35 skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Indiana. Reed was also a co-founder of IndyCar’s Ed Carpenter Racing team and Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka with former pro golfer and New Albany native Fuzzy Zoeller (who won a couple major tournaments, but is most famous for racism). A 2020 Indianapolis Star exposé on COVID in Indiana nursing homes says of Reed,
“The owner of Magnolia Health Systems, which operates about 30 homes, and his companies spent about $565,000 [on Indiana political campaign contributions since 2009]. And it wasn’t just cash. Stuart Reed, who lives in a $4 million Zionsville mansion, also provided an additional $10,000 in event catering and travel services for Pence during his initial run for governor, campaign finance records show.”
The very first Google search result for Stuart Reed is this lovely arial shot of his swank Zionsville mansion:
That last one really gets me because it hits close.
My wife is a registered nurse.
At a nursing home.
That was just recently acquired by another chain nursing facility operator with a very similar profile to Magnolia.
I see the results of the broken American healthcare system every day, hear the horror stories, feel the burden carried by point-of-care providers.
Indiana’s nurses are among the lowest paid in the country, earning approximately 35% less than the US average. Well, then, surely, by saving money on each individual worker, the above healthcare oligarchs can afford to staff up in an effort to provide better care, right? Right?
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Of course not, this is capitalism we’re talking about here. Currently, California is the only state in the union that mandates safe staffing ratios. Some other states (almost exclusively “blue” states) mandate nurse-driven staffing committees, or at least public disclosure of facilities’ staffing ratios. Not Indiana (or most GOP-led states). In those states, the medical industrial complex has lobbied state regulators so effectively that RNs can sometimes find themselves responsible for 30, 50, or more patients.
I mean sure, proper staffing might result in fewer medication errors, lower patient mortality, shorter hospital stays, and less nurse burnout, but c’mon man! Think about the investors. That stuff just isn’t profitable.
The doctors, nurses, and aides of the this state are set up to fail. There is never enough time or energy to provide each patient with the quality, dignified, individualized care they deserve. Obviously, the patients suffer the consequences of this, but the caregivers - in addition to poor pay and and fatigue - often endure the psychological anguish, self-doubt, and hopelessness that accompanies the resulting inability to provide such care.
Way back in the introduction, I mentioned that the US spends twice as much on healthcare as any other advanced nation. Where does that difference wind up? In the pockets and bank accounts of the individuals listed above. And what do they do with it? Lobby the government to enact policies that will funnel even more money to the top.
It’s enough to make you sick.
Having worked in healthcare in the past, I can attest to the shortages, burnout and low morale of caregivers. This goes back decades and appears to have, believe it or not, escalated. If only these big wigs would put their money where it belongs instead of in the pockets of greedy, blind and self-serving politicians, we might be able to turn things around. Okay, I’m delusional.
Such a well-researched and brilliantly drafted article.
The absolute indifference to life has long been a defining factor of the GOP "elite".
If the Democratic party were better organized and better able to coherently articulate a strong counter-argument, perhaps the country could have avoided its current societal collapse.
Perhaps unbridled greed was always destined to corrupt every institution.