The Lobbying Power of the Groups at the Presidential Health Care Pow-Wow

This post is cross-posted at the Sunlight Foundation blog.

Yesterday, President Obama held a public event with a number of leading health industry trade associations that have previously been reticent towards efforts to reform health care. The organizations included the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA), America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the American Medical Association (AMA), the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) and the American Hospital Association (AHA). The public event included a promise by these industry groups, among others, to reduce health care costs by $2 trillion. It also served as a symbolic event, potentially showing the shrinking rift in between the two sides in the health reform debate. President Obama wants these organizations to temper their fire when the health reform debate begins in full, as they wield a mighty hand in the Washington lobbying game.

In their first quarter reporting for 2009, these five trade associations have reported nearly $18 million in lobbying expenditures. Their expertise in reaching out to Congress is also nearly unparalleled. The five trade groups employ in their inside lobby shops at least 20 former government employees, many of whom are former congressional staffers. The head of PhRMA's lobby shop is former congressman Billy Tauzin, notorious for negotiating his current job as he was writing Medicare prescription drug benefit while in Congress. (This does not take into account the outside lobbying firms hired by these groups.)

1st Quarter Lobbying
PhRMA	$6,910,000
American Medical Assn	$4,355,000
American Hospital Assn	$4,237,176
America's Health Insurance Plans	$2,030,000
Advanced Medical Technology Assn	$364,638

The health care sector, on the whole, is leading the pack in lobbying expenditures this year. After three months of 2009, the sector has reported $127 million in lobbying expenditures. That is on pace to break the record $487 million spent by the sector on lobbying in 2008 and the congressional debate has yet to be fully engaged. The sector is the only other private sector that competes with the financial sector in lobbying spending. From 1997-2008, the health care sector has spent $3.4 billion on lobbying officials in Washington -- only slightly less than the financial sector ($3.6 billion).

There are varying views in the health care reform community on whether this public event will help President Obama's reform effort or if it will empower the industry groups to be able to squash the pieces of reform they deem unacceptable. Jonathan Cohn, Marc Ambinder and Paul Krugman believe that this is a net benefit for reform advocates. Cohn writes, "[E]very day that these groups are saying positive things about reform in public is day they're not saying nasty things about reform in public." The American Prospect's Ezra Klein, on the other hand, takes a more cautious approach, stating, "The fact that the White House is making a big deal of their support means it would be a big deal if they lost it."

But Klein also notes that the real fight won't occur until an actual bill is dropped, which will happen in June. When the next lobbying disclosure reports come out on July 20th, we'll be able to see how much these groups are engaged in the debate. These groups have the ability to spend massive amounts of money and that is the only metric we will have to measure their lobbying campaign when the next round of disclosures are released.

We won't, however, be able to see who in Congress, or the administration, they are contacting and for what goals they are aiming. Without disclosure of contacts, it may take some time for the president and supporters and opponents of reform to see whether today's event was just a high-level photo-op, or if it actually paid off in one-way or the other.

Comments

[jpinsatx]

Hmmm... Health Care for All Americans is Simple!

1) Merge Medicare with Medicaide into one single "Income Based" system for elderly and poor citizens.

2) Require insurance companies to provide the same basic coverage for all Non-Medica­re/Medicai­de citizens, regardless of health status, at affordable rates.

3) Allow insurance companies to profit by offering additional benefits and options to those who qualify and are willing to pay the difference.

As for Funding...

1) Changing from an "Emergency Treatment" to a "Preventive Care" system will save local communities billions, maybe even trillions of taxpayer dollars!

2) Small business will be able to compete globally and hire additional taxpaying employees!

3) Wealthy seniors will pay their fair share!

4) The tremendous burden on future generations will be greatly reduced!

[JusticiaParaTodos]

The Senate Finance Committee Hearings are a sham and are just an indication of the influence that corporate America has on weak minded, chicken livered politicians.
Not one advocate for single payer was invited to the parley. Those in the audience that stood up and challenged committe chair Max Baucus were immediatley hauled away and arrested! So much for REAL change! So much for FREEDOM OF SPEECH!

It appears that Baucus and his ilk have drawn the line in the sand. The question is will advocates for REAL healthcare reform step up to the challenge? When a government official refuses to acknowledge the existence of an organized group of people. When a government official refuses to acknowledge the fact that the majority of Americans polled support single payer healthcare­... well something indeed is wrong!

I propose that healthcare reform activists take the cause to the streets! We must shame the U.S. Congress, the White House, the health insurance bosses before the world! An old war vet once told me that "freedom isn't free." You know he was right. It is time to RESIST, ORGANIZE, AGITATE & MOBILIZE!

[canuckgirl]

We need Obama and his staff to look into a grave situation for Ray Sandford of Minnesota. This man is being forced to have electroshock against his will. At last count, Ray had 40 electroshocks.
Every other week Ray is taken by a van from his group home to a hospital nearby to undergo electroshock also known as ECT. ECT is still around, it never left. ECT is not safe nor are the ECT machines.

Read Ray's tragic story at http://www.mindfreedom.org/ray

Ray is being tortured against his will and he needs the top brass in Washington to look into his case now. Many other people in the USA are undergoing the same thing as Ray.

This American citizen Ray needs his human rights to be respected and not violated like they are now.

The International Campaign to Ban Electroshock (ICBE) based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada deems electroshock to be unethical, barbaric, inhumane torture and a crime against humanity.

There is a large worldwide movement to ban electroshock universally

Dr. Peter R. Breggin a psychiatrist in the NY state has written extensively about brain damaging electroshock. Breggin's website URL is:
http://www.breggin.com

Ray deserves to be listened to. His life depends on it.

It is time now to end barbaric electroshock for good.

Other ECT websites:

http://www.ect.org
http://doctorsofdeception.com
http://capa.oise.utoronto.ca
http://capacanada.wordpress.com
http://endofshock.com
http://psychrights.org
http://www.mindfreedomireland.com

[Dolmance]

Did you get a look at those awful men with their sense of entitlement, who feel it's their right to take a 50% skim off every health dollar you pay for yourself and your family?

Those are some seriously bad men. And ugly too. So ugly that only a Republican could love them.