Top Republicans receive campaign contributions from UnitedHealth

Top Republicans, such as John Boehner and Eric Cantor, who are using Lewin Group findings to scare voters about a "government takeover" of health care, are recipients of campaign contributions from UnitedHealth, one of the largest U.S. providers of Medicare plans and the company that owns Lewin Group.

The Lewin Group insists that it is a nonpartisan research agency, but in fact it was purchased by UnitedHealth in 2007. Often centerpieces of the Republican opposition to Obama's healthcare reform plans, Lewin Group's conclusions differ vastly from those of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

In one particularly telling example, Lewin has projected that 88 million Americans might quit their private insurance plans if given a government alternative, while the Congressional Budget Office has put the figure at a far-smaller 11 million.