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Groton Daily Independent
Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 223 ~ 49 of 52
In at least once instance, Trump himself stopped by during a corporation’s event at the president’s ex- clusive Mar-a-Lago club.
It came in December during the Christmas party for Oxbow Carbon LLC, a Florida-based energy com- pany owned by William Koch, a longtime dues-paying member of Mar-a-Lago and brother of billionaires and conservative activists Charles and David Koch.
Oxbow’s main product, petroleum coke, a fuel used in oil re ning and often stored in bulk, could be affected by the Trump administration’s push to ease air and water pollution regulations.
Oxbow spokesman Brad Goldstein said no business was discussed during Trump’s visit to the party and stressed that Koch has long held events at Trump’s club.
“This was an event to reward Oxbow employees and the president was just visiting as he has in the past,” Goldstein said. “It had nothing to do with public policy.”
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This story has been corrected to re ect that the National Confectioners Association has met twice at Trump properties in the past two years, not in the past year. The most recent was March 2017 at the Trump National Doral Miami. The group also did not schedule another event at the Trump Washington hotel in September.
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Associated Press writer Bernard Condon in New York contributed to this report.
Beyond ‘Obamacare’: New liberal plan on health care overhaul By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A major liberal policy group is raising the ante on the health care debate with a new plan that builds on Medicare to guarantee coverage for all.
Called “Medicare Extra for All,” the proposal to be released Thursday by the Center for American Progress gives politically energized Democrats more options to achieve a long-sought goal.
In a nod to political pragmatism, the plan would preserve a role for employer coverage and for the health insurance industry. Employers and individuals would have a choice of joining Medicare Extra, but it would not be required.
That differs from the more traditional “single-payer” approach advocated by Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, in which the government would hold the reins of the health care system.
Even though the plan has no chance of passing in a Republican-controlled Congress, center president Neera Tanden said, “We think it’s time to go bolder.”
“There is consensus on the progressive side that universal coverage should be the goal and health care is a right,” she added.
Picking up on the leftward shift among Democrats, Republicans are already working up rebuttals. Presi- dent Donald Trump tweeted earlier this month that “Dems want to greatly raise taxes for really bad and non-personal medical care. No thanks!”
The Center for American Progress is a think tank that was closely aligned with President Barack Obama and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. A 2005 proposal from the center foreshadowed Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
Medicare Extra would use Medicare’s thrifty payment system as a framework to pool working-age people and their families, low-income people now covered by Medicaid, and seniors. A major missing piece: There’s no cost estimate for the plan, although its authors say that’s in the works.
The proposal comes at a time when polls show intense interest among Democrats and some independents in a government-run system that would guarantee coverage and bene ts while reducing the complexity and out-of-pocket costs associated with private insurance. The future of health care is expected to be a de ning issue in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, and political messages will be tested and honed in this fall’s midterm elections.
A nonpartisan expert who independently reviewed the Medicare Extra plan said it could provide Demo-