So many things wrong (not the report) I'd need a pencil and paper just to be sure I listed them all if I cared to be...
>>Six Lobbyists Per Lawmaker Work to Shape Health-Care Overhaul
By Jonathan D. Salant and Lizzie O’Leary
Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- If there is any doubt that President
Barack Obama’s plan to overhaul U.S. health care is the hottest topic in Congress, just ask the 3,300 lobbyists who have
lined up to work on the issue.
That’s six lobbyists for each of the 535 members of the House and Senate, according to Senate records, and three times the number of people registered to lobby on defense. More than 1,500 organizations have health-care lobbyists, and about three more are signing up each day. Every one of the 10
biggest lobbying firms by revenue is involved in an effort that could affect 17 percent of the U.S. economy.
These groups spent $263.4 million on lobbying during the first six months of 2009, according to the
Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group, more than any other industry. They spent $241.4 million during the same period of 2008. Drugmakers alone spent $134.5 million, 64 percent more than the next biggest-spenders, oil and gas companies.
“Whenever you have a big piece of legislation like this, it’s like ringing the dinner bell for K Street,” said
Bill Allison, a senior fellow at the
Sunlight Foundation, a Washington-based watchdog group, referring to the street in the capital where many lobbying firms have offices.
Stock Prices
Health-insurer and managed-care
stocks have gained this year, led by
WellCare Health Plans Inc., based in Tampa, Florida;
Cigna Corp., based in Philadelphia; and
Coventry Health Care Inc., a Bethesda, Maryland, company. The three paced a 13 percent increase in the Standard & Poor’s Supercomposite Managed Health Care Index since Jan. 1. Drugmaker shares have stagnated.
Health-care lobbyists said their efforts are the biggest since the successful 1986 effort to overhaul the tax code. The result is a debate involving thousands of disparate voices, forcing Congress to pick winners and losers.
“There’s a lot of money at stake and there are a lot of special interests who don’t want their ox gored,” Allison said.
The lobbyists are on all sides of the issue.
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the Washington-based trade group for drug companies such as Thousand Oaks, California-based
Amgen Inc. and New York-based
Pfizer Inc., has embraced a health-care overhaul.
Amgen, Pfizer
Lobbying by Amgen, the world’s largest
biotechnology company, is intended to “effectively shape health-care policy,” said
Kelley Davenport, a spokeswoman. Pfizer, the
world’s largest drugmaker, is “dedicated to insuring that our voice is heard,” said spokesman
Ray Kerins.
The Washington-based
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business lobby, is opposing efforts to offer government-run health insurance to compete with private companies. The chamber spent $26 million in the first six months of 2009 to lobby, more than any other group.
For lobbyists, the goal is to ensure that whatever measure eventually becomes law doesn’t cripple the industry they represent.
“They assume health-care reform is going to happen and they want to be protected,” said
John Jonas, a partner with the lobbying firm of
Patton Boggs LLP in Washington.
Patton Boggs, the top lobbying firm in terms of revenue, has three dozen clients in the health-care debate, including New York-based
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., and Bentonville, Arkansas-based
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., more than any other lobbying firm.
Bristol-Myers, Walmart
Brian Henry, a spokesman for Bristol-Myers, maker of the world’s no.2 best-selling drug Plavix, said the company wants to ensure any legislation preserves incentives for innovation.
“We believe the health-care system needs to be reformed and we’ve specifically supported an employer mandate and cost- containment measures,” said
Greg Rossiter, a spokesman for Walmart, the largest U.S. employer.
The lobbyists fill the appointment books of lawmakers, and line up at House and Senate office buildings. The staff of Senate
Finance Committee Chairman
Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, rotates weekly meetings among the various groups in the health-care debate, providers one week, purchasers a second, consumers a third.
Just about the way i figured things went on.
