The Center For Health Transformation was a for-profit organization that was founded by Newt Gingrich. It was a consultancy that offered health-insurance companies, and pharmaceutical companies, certain perks, in exchange for yearly dues. It has officially filed for bankruptcy.
Newt Gingrich founded the Center for Health Transformation in 2003. It was part of The Gingrich Group. Newt Gingrich separated himself from these businesses in May of 2011, shortly before he officially started his campaign to become the next President of the United States.
It has been said that things were not going very well for these businesses after Newt Gingrich stepped away from them. The Gingrich Group, which was doing business as the Center for Health Transformation, filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Atlanta, Georgia. It listed $1 million to $10 million in debt. It had up to $100,000 in assets. It had somewhere between 50 and 90 creditors.
Charles S. Bullock III is a political science professor at The University of Georgia. He said:
“While health-care costs have bankrupted many without insurance, Gingrich may be the first to go broke studying health-care delivery”.
I tried to find more information about the Center for Health Transformation, but it seems that the website has been taken down. The Facebook page no longer seems to exist, either. According to an article on AJC, the Center for Health Transformation’s Facebook page once described itself as:
“a high-impact collaboration of private and public sector leaders committed to creating a 21st century intelligent health system that saves lives and saves money for all Americans”
Interestingly, The Center for Health Transformation did, at one time, advocate for a form of individual mandate to buy health insurance. It differed slightly from the one that is part of the Affordable Care Act. The Center for Health Transformation wanted an individual mandate that required people who earned more than $50,000 a year to purchase health insurance.
Oddly enough, Newt Gingrich has been rallying against all forms of individual mandate in his campaign. He has stated that he fought against insurance mandates at the Center for Health Transformation. Right now, it is typical for Republican candidates to loudly express the viewpoint that they want to repeal the entire Affordable Care Act. Perhaps Gingrich was simply “playing politics” each time he spoke about being against insurance mandates, considering that his business was advocating one.
Image by Gage Skidmore on Flickr