From the Lobby Blog on Huff Po:
“It’s a tangled web, with big lobbying firms, industry groups, and Astroturf organizers all linked to townhall meetings. Reflecting a widely-held view among progressives, the big kahuna behind it all is the health insurance industry, via trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans.
‘They’re playing a sophisticated game at the front of the pack,’ said Campaign for America’s Future’s Roger Hickey in an interview with the Huffington Post. ‘They’re trying to pretend that they’re in favor of reform and they’re spending some money on advertising that looks like it’s pro-reform. And at the same time they’re working pretty hard to make sure the public plan is not in the final version. They’re primarily using their political contributions and their lobbying efforts to do that.”
