National Nurses United

NewsBriefs:Public 8/15/07 3:29 PM Page 7 NEW STUDY SAYS TO FOLLOW THE MONEY IN HEALTHCARE t's no surprise that the various healthcare solutions proposed by most of the 2008 presidential candidates are still heavily dependent on private health insurers. Spending by the healthcare industry on federal lobbying alone in the past decade has exceeded $2.2 billion, easily surpassing all other industries. The healthcare sector also spent $98.6 million on federal political contributions in 2006 alone. These findings are reported in "MarketBased Healthcare: Big Money, Politics, and the Unraveling of U.S. Civil Democracy," a study recently released by the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy, the research arm of CNA/NNOC. The report was compiled by analyzing public data and records as well as data from the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit Washington, D.C. group that tracks money in politics. In addition to hefty payouts from HMOs and pharmaceutical corporations, the flow of money into Washington, D.C. can also be traced to a new industry that has proliferated around the recent innovation of applying banking techniques to healthcare. The most common product of these new ventures is the health savings account (HSA), into which consumers deposit tax-sheltered money for future use with a high-deductible insurance plan. Some banks have begun to issue healthcare credit cards (with usurious annual percentage rates), and some insurance companies have begun to charter their own banks in order to offer their own special brand of HSA. As IHSP reports, "More consumer debt on an already debt-heavy U.S. population is their regressive answer to 'affordable health care'—and greater corporate revenue flows." This seems to be the crux of the problem—that the healthcare industry is just that: an industry. Rather than being seen as a human right, healthcare is run as a business in the United States, and is consequently steeped in the language of consumerism. If medical access is considered a commodity, then it will be limited to those who can pay the highest price. As a result, the surge of healthcare industry money into our government buildings parallels the rise of consumer-unfriendly legislation. A prime example is the cautionary tale of guaranteed not only the criminalization of the uninsured but also the nudging of those on the cusp of destitution into poverty. While the Massachusetts health plan struggles to take off, Romney has moved on to groom himself for presidential candidacy in an election characterized by one issue: healthcare. IHSP's report documents Romney as the top recipient of pharmaceutical contributions and money from the same financial institutions that are so wholeheartedly promoting the HSA. The influence of healthcare industry money reaches beyond any one election, too. The contributions are like a web encompassing local and national government, touching all those entering and exiting. Former lobbyists go on to work as staffers in the offices of politicians. Politicians move on to cushy executive positions in pharmaceutical agencies. And all the deals cut in the time between benefits healthcare companies rather than the citizens who rely upon them. I J U LY | A U G U S T 2 0 0 7 Massachusetts. Former governor Mitt Romney's plan to make sure every citizen of the state had health insurance was highly promoted, but fell far short of its goal when analysts determined that costs could not be kept under control. By making the purchase of private insurance mandatory, failing to rein in insurance industry premiums or drug company price gouging, and relying on HSAs, the plan (continued on page 8) KING OF INDUSTRY RANKS TOP FOR MONEY SPENT ON FEDERAL LOBBYING THE HILL SINCE 1999, HEALTHCARE YEAR RANK AMONG INDUSTRIES 1998 2 $92,607,656 1999 1 $210,824,540 2000 1 $230,126,758 2001 1 $234,699,579 2002 1 $263,999,700 2003 1 $296,802,675 2004 1 $324,786,013 2005 1 $356,537,602 2006 (through June 30, 2006) 1 $193,938,712 Total TOTAL SPENT $2,204,323,235 SOURCE: IHSP calculations of Political MoneyLine Data through June 30, 2006 W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G REGISTERED NURSE 7

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