EDITOR:

In 2010, Bart Stupak introduced the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to ensure that Obamacare would not fund abortions. He and about 63 other Democrats had the power to stop Obamacare by holding to their principled beliefs.

It’s probably no coincidence that Stupak caved to President Obama at the same time as Marinette Marine lost the competition to build the LCS. It’s admirable that Stupak probably traded his votes for an LCS contract that now employs thousands of people in the U.P. and Wisconsin. What isn’t as venerable is Stupak’s profiting from the disaster (Obamacare) that he was instrumental in creating. Obamacare is destroying rural hospitals, including Dickinson County Healthcare System. U.S. News (March 2016) wrote, “At the root of the problem is the crushing weight of regulation (because of Obamacare). The sum total of mandated automation, reporting requirements, shrinking reimbursements and increasing penalties for noncompliance with other mandates has left rural hospitals out in the cold.”

After Stupak provided the necessary votes to pass Obamacare, he retired from Congress to likely avoid defeat for another term in office. Following retirement, Stupak joined Venable LLP, a Washington D.C. company that makes lots of money because of Obamacare.

“(Stupak) currently focuses his practice on health care system financial restructuring” (https://www.venable.com/professionals/s/the-honorable-bart-stupak).

What has he done for DCHS? He added his company’s $150,000 fee, two former CEOs with estimated total benefits of $600,000 annually, a number of interim VPs, directors or managers with benefits estimated to be $400,000 annually, and has done virtually nothing to retain profitable providers and staff.

DCHS didn’t need the estimated $1,150,000 added expense that Stupak counseled — they could have taken U.S. News’ advice and “doubled down on market-based, patient-driven health services to stay afloat.” (U.S. News, March 2016).