USA Today—Health care fight swells lobbying

Posted by Kendall Harmon

Companies and groups hiring lobbying firms on health issues nearly doubled this year as special interests rushed to shape the massive revamp of the nation's health care system now in its final stretch before Congress.

About 1,000 organizations have hired lobbyists since January, compared with 505 during the same period in 2008, according to a USA TODAY analysis of congressional records compiled by the nonpartisan CQ MoneyLine.

Overall, health care lobbying has increased, exceeding $422 million during the first ninth months of the year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics. That's more than any other industry and a nearly 10% jump over the same period in 2008. The center's Dave Levinthal said the frenzy of new lobbying activity makes financial sense.

"If lobbying didn't work, people wouldn't do it," he said.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • --The 2009 American Health Care Reform Debate • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • The U.S. Government • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • Senate

4 Comments
Posted November 23, 2009 at 7:00 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Dan Crawford wrote:

If bribes didn’t work, they wouldn’t be given. No wonder Congress is incapable of doing the people’s business.

November 23, 8:03 am | [comment link]
2. Br. Michael wrote:

I tire of the term “special interests”.  We are all in a special interest group of some sort or another.  People are entitled to press legislators to pass or defeat legislation that they want passed or defeated.  It’s called politics.  At its most basic level everyone is a “special interest” of one.  If you get two then it’s a group.  It’s even written into our Constitution.  See the First Amendment and the right of the people to petition Congress for the redress of grievances.

It is perfectly appropriate for citizens of common interests to pool their resources to influence legislation, some maybe better than others, but again it is something we all do and it is as old as government itself.

November 23, 8:12 am | [comment link]
3. Septuagenarian wrote:

While it is true that most of us are members of some special interest group or the other, there are enormous differences in what various special interest groups spend. For example, Cigna spent $450,000 in just the first quarter of this year on lobbying. Ultimately, that expense comes out of the pockets of those who pay premiums for Cigna insurance. And what Cigna lobbies for may or may not be what the insured want or in the insured’s best interest. Health, finance and energy interests spent over one trillion dollars on lobbying in 2009. What the couple of groups I belong to pales in comparison. One actually is a major player, the other isn’t even on the radar.

And there is a difference between “people [pressing] legislators to pass or defeat legislation and corporations (which, after all, aren’t people) spending hundreds of millions of dollars to enrich their bottom lines.

November 23, 8:48 am | [comment link]
4. John Wilkins wrote:

So that is why my insurance premiums are going up.

November 23, 11:16 am | [comment link]
Registered members must log in to comment.



Next entry (above): Pope Benedict XVI's Address to the Assembly of Catholic Universities

Previous entry (below): LA Times--For a healthcare holdout, it's lonely in the middle

Return to blog homepage

Return to Mobile view (headlines)