Money paid Congress Members by health insurance industry
The following is from TruthDig:
The public option in health care reform has been slain, and the murder weapon may be a truckload of greenbacks. The Obama administration caved in recently amid slipping support for the option in Congress, where some members enjoy a very profitable relationship with big players in the health insurance industry. It appears that once again money talks, loudly
Have any other members of Congress received money tied to the health insurance industry? I’m glad you asked. Here are some illuminating figures from Open Secrets (see the link near the bottom of the Open Secrets page). Below are other members of the present Congress who have figures above $200,000. The champ of the list, by far, is from neither the Senate nor the House, but rather the executive branch—one Barack Obama, at $1,427,180.
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) $767,841
Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) $737,260
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) $697,351
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) $684,787
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) $680,184
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) $655,899
Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) $611,554
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) $522,546
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) $520,327
Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) $490,098
Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) $477,620
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) $461,850
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) $449,066
Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) $448,938
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) $425,378
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) $422,149
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) $382,880
Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) $366,828
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) $361,750
Sen. Jon L. Kyl (R-Ariz.) $350,968
Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) $350,873
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) $339,330
Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) $320,071
Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) $316,414
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) $314,823
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) $309,500
Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.) $304,900
Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) $285,900
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) $284,830
Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.) $250,750
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) $248,175
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) $247,686
Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) $247,437
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) $243,595
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) $237,750
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) $236,725
Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) $233,950
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) $232,220
Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) $227,808
Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) $224,050
Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) $222,196
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) $219,854
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) $216,250
Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) $204,200
Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) $203,450
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) $203,050
The total for these 46 members of Congress is more than $17 million. That’s enough to take a few trips to visit the constituents.
This partial list of those who received industry contributions is not presented to suggest that any of the congressional members have been “bought” by the health insurance industry. But what flesh-and-bone human being would not at least be influenced by such largesse?
It is possible that the public option will arise, Lazarus-like, but the United States of 2009 is likely to turn out to be a land of Mammon, not miracles.
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4 comments
Depressing!!!
Yes, it is depressing. There is simply far too much money being pumped into Congress from corporate special interest lobbyists.
There is far too much money being pumped into Congress because Congress has so much money to spend on those doing the pumping. No law will effectively change that because Congress will not give up that source of funds.
As for ‘health care reform’, the public option was DOA – perhaps just a straw man to take flack from the real evil: the mandate. If a mandate is passed and signed, we’ll soon find ourselves filling out forms to prove to the IRS that we are ‘contributing’ a sufficient percentage of our income to the very insurance industry that is supposed to be the ‘bad guys’ who necessitated ‘health care reform’.
I agree with you on your comment that too much money is being pumped into Congress. You are also right, I think, that no law will end it, nor is Congress necessarily interested in ending it. The only solution I can think of is to remove those in Congress that is taking all that money and providing representation to those that provide it. The only way I know of to remove those offensive people is to vote them out of office at their next election.
With respect to health care reform the only sensible solution I can think of is to institute “Medicare for all” and let the insurance industry make it or fail on their own.
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