Insurance Money Influence in the Senate

by G H · 2009-10-14 06:00:00 UTC
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Well, the drama is over for the moment. AHIP had its hissy fit. The Senate Finance Committee bill was rubber-stamped (14-9), as expected. An uncertain forecast for Snowe did indeed produce some precipitation, though future chances of Olympia Snowe’s vote on the final Senate healthcare bill are slim. And in a final touch of irony, the only major health reform bill NOT to include a public option will now be merged with one originally called “Medicare For All.” But what’s most interesting is the numbers.

No, I don’t mean the contrived numbers AHIP commissioned PriceWaterhouseCoopers to churn out. Even PWC has backed away from its report, coming clean on the reform aspects it was asked to omit from analysis (it has a reputation to uphold, after all.) That left AHIP standing by itself, looking more than a bit foolish. I’m referring to numbers behind a Senate show of solidarity on October 8, 2009, made available by the Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets OpenData.

That day, 30 senators (all Democrats or Independents) wrote to Majority Leader Harry Reid to request he make sure the final Senate healthcare reform bill include a public option. Seventy senators did not sign the letter. What was the difference, besides partisan politics? MAPlight.org just did the math, and it was contributions from insurance interests. Observe:

30 senators who signed received an average of $15,937 in campaign contributions from insurance interests between 2003-2009. That’s 57% less than the $37,322 received by 70 senators who didn’t sign.

Eliminate the partisan nature of the letter by omitting the 40 Republican senators, and the results are eerily the same:

30 senators who signed received an average of $15,937, which is 54% less than the $34,400 received by 30 Democratic and Independent senators who didn’t sign.

Broken out over 6 years, $34-37,000 isn’t a lot of money, around $6,000 per year. But that’s all it takes to sway the votes of senators whose cushy health plan is bought and paid for by their constituents. When the health and solvency of a country’s citizens are at stake, knowing that so little money can buy our Congressional representatives is more than a little disturbing. You can check your senator's contribution status here.

Photo Afroswede // CC BY 2.0

G H
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