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      Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks during a hearing

      Medicare Advantage Industry 'Scare Tactics' and Lobbying Intensify Over Efforts to Curb Fraud

      "These companies have built entire businesses around making beneficiaries look as sick as possible," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren. "And unsurprisingly, government watchdogs have discovered widespread abuse."

      Jake Johnson
      Mar 23, 2023

      In the wake of numerous studies and investigations detailing the staggering level of fraud in the privately run Medicare Advantage program, the Biden administration proposed a new rule aimed at cracking down on upcoding—a common industry practice whereby plans describe patients as sicker than they actually are to reap larger payments from the federal government.

      The rule, finalized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) earlier this year, sparked a furious lobbying blitz that has only intensified in recent weeks, with the for-profit insurance industry's most powerful players leading the fight against the proposal and other policy changes that they have falsely characterized as Medicare Advantage "cuts."

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      medicare advantage
      Workers service the tracks at the Metra/BNSF railroad yard

      Rail Industry Has Spent $654 Million on Federal Lobbying Over Past 20 Years: Analysis

      The industry has also spent more than $60 million over the past two decades lobbying officials in 20 states, including California, Texas, and New York.

      Jake Johnson
      Mar 03, 2023

      A new analysis by the campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets found that the rail industry has spent $653.5 million on federal lobbying over the past two decades as it has worked—often successfully—to fight off stricter safety regulations and antitrust enforcement.

      While Norfolk Southern's history of lobbying against safety rules has faced greater scrutiny and backlash in the wake of the toxic derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the company is hardly an industry outlier.

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      rail industry
      A restaurant worker finishes a breakfast dish

      'Beyond Outrageous': Bombshell Report Uncovers Restaurant Lobby's Anti-Worker Scheme

      A New York Times investigation found that the National Restaurant Association is using mandatory food safety classes to force workers to unwittingly fund lobbying against wage increases.

      Jake Johnson
      Jan 17, 2023

      Labor advocates voiced outrage Tuesday in response to a New York Times investigation detailing how the powerful National Restaurant Association uses mandatory food-safety courses—which workers often pay for out of their own pockets—to help finance its campaigns against wage increases.

      The Timesreported that the restaurant lobby and its affiliates have created "an arrangement with few parallels in Washington, where labor unwittingly helps to pay for management's lobbying."

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      national restaurant association
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