--- title: Howard Dean Defends His Work For Lobbying Firm After Backlash description: Howard Dean is annoyed. He wants his own arguments to be evaluated on their merits, regardless of where he works these days. “I do work... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7181807/howard-dean-defends-his-work-for-lobbying-firm-after-backlash/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-07-30T09:45:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-18T06:49:57.101Z article:section: Politics og:title: Howard Dean Defends His Work For Lobbying Firm After Backlash og:description: Howard Dean is annoyed. He wants his own arguments to be evaluated on their merits, regardless of where he works these days. “I do work... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7181807/howard-dean-defends-his-work-for-lobbying-firm-after-backlash/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2be3c5044a3dfbf/698a9d6716d884bfcdc45dba/dean.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Dean Records og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Howard Dean Defends His Work For Lobbying Firm After Backlash twitter:description: Howard Dean is annoyed. He wants his own arguments to be evaluated on their merits, regardless of where he works these days. “I do work... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2be3c5044a3dfbf/698a9d6716d884bfcdc45dba/dean.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) # Howard Dean Defends His Work For Lobbying Firm After Backlash by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Jul 30, 2013 9:45 AM UTC  Former Gov. Howard Dean is interviewed on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 in Montpelier, Vt. Ten years after Gov. Howard Dean left office, his gubernatorial records are being made public. About 90 boxes will become available for public inspection on Thursday. Dean had invoked the Archives Act to seal for 10 years records that he felt were "privileged" and "sensitive." (AP Photo/Toby Talbot) Former Gov. Howard Dean is interviewed on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 in Montpelier, Vt. Ten years after Gov. Howard Dean left office, his gubernatorial records are being made public. About 90 boxes will become available for public inspection on Thursday. Dean had invoked the Archives Act to seal for 10 years records that he felt were "privileged" and "sensitive." (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)ASSOCIATED PRESS—AP2013 by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Jul 30, 2013 9:45 AM UTC [Howard Dean](http://topics.time.com/howard-dean/) is annoyed. He wants his own arguments to be evaluated on their merits, regardless of where he works these days. “I do work part-time for a law firm. And a law firm has clients,” he told TIME on Monday, after publishing a _Wall Street Journal_ [op-ed](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324110404578628542498014414.html) criticizing a key part of [ObamaCare](http://topics.time.com/obamacare/). “I dare say some of the clients think \[the op-ed\] is great, but I don’t write stuff because the clients like it. I write stuff because I believe it.”more Dean’s critics are not so sure. The _Journal_ piece praised Obamacare but condemned a controversial cost-control board created by the law, the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). Supporters of the law, mostly on the left, charged that Dean, far from an independent observer of [health care](http://topics.time.com/health-care/) policy, is a shill for various elements of the health care lobby. Jonathan Cohn, a health care writer for _The New Republic_, accused Dean of writing his op-ed on behalf of Big Pharma. [Writes](http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114072/howard-dean-obamacare-payment-board-and-k-street) Cohn: --- > “” --- Jonathan Chait, of _New York_ magazine, was no kinder to Dean. Writing under the headline, “Howard Dean, Concerned American and Non-Shill,” Chait [wrote](http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/07/howard-dean-concerned-american-and-non-shill.html): --- > “” --- (**MORE:** [President Trumpets Obamacare Rebates as Deadline Approaches](http://swampland.time.com/2013/07/18/president-trumpets-obamacare-rebates-as-deadline-approaches/)) Indeed, Dean’s work for McKenna, Long and Aldridge (MLA) has cast a long shadow over his public health care views—especially when they seem to run counter to his previous public stances. Dean was a huge supporter of health care reform’s ill-fated “public option,” a government-run insurance plan that would have competed with private insurers and which was beloved by liberals. IPAB, which Dean wrote in his _Journal_ op-ed should be eliminated, is another Obamacare provision favored by liberals. The board would be charged with keeping Medicare spending growth within certain parameters, tied to inflation. If Medicare spending grows too fast, IPAB will be empowered to reduce Medicare reimbursements to physicians. Dean says IPAB is a “rate-setting” board that would ration care by reducing Medicare physician reimbursements so drastically certain medical services would no longer be available. “If you had to go see a physician and make some complicated decisions about a serious illness, would you want a board in Washington making the decisions about what you could have and couldn’t or would you rather have your physician making those decisions?” asks Dean. One of the most powerful interest groups vehemently opposed to IPAB is the American Medical Association. Asked if he wrote his _Journal_ op-ed on behalf of the AMA or MLA clients, Dean said, “To the best of my knowledge the AMA is not a client of our firm. “ (MLA did not return a request for comment about its client list.) Deans says he is paid a flat annual fee by MLA for “giving political advice to whoever wants it.” And does MLA have clients who dislike IPAB? “I’m sure we do,” says Dean. “What annoys me is that everything you say comes down to who’s paying you to say it. You can talk like that if you want to but I don’t think it helps the general discussion. We ought to argue on the merits.” **MORE:** [The Employer Mandate Delay Increases Costs and Complications](http://swampland.time.com/2013/07/09/the-employer-mandate-delay-increases-costs-and-complications/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7181807/howard-dean-defends-his-work-for-lobbying-firm-after-backlash/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7181807/howard-dean-defends-his-work-for-lobbying-firm-after-backlash/"},"headline":"Howard Dean Defends His Work For Lobbying Firm After Backlash","datePublished":"2013-07-30T09:45:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-18T06:49:57.101Z","description":"Howard Dean is annoyed. 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