Subject: [big campaign] Top health insurers spending $2.5 million a month
From: David Donnelly <[email-masked]>
To: "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:31:58 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

http://www.campaignmoney.org/top_14_insurer_spenders

(sorry about formatting on chart below)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 16, 2009    

TOP INSURERS SPEND HEAVILY TO INFLUENCE DEBATE ON HEALTH CARE REFORM

Fourteen health insurance companies and their national front group spent
$15.5 million in first half of 2009  more than $2.5 million per month

Washington, D.C.  Fourteen major health insurers and their industry
association flexed their political muscle to the tune of $2.5 million per
month  an increase of 25 percent over previous years  in the first half of
2009 to influence the health care reform debate, according to a report
released today by the nonpartisan group Public Campaign Action Fund.

³These highly profitable corporations are spending millions every month to
protect their bottom line by fighting health care reform in Washington,
D.C.,² said David Donnelly, national campaigns director of Public Campaign
Action Fund. ³To put it starkly, they have invested heavily in insider
lobbyists and politicians to maintain their bottom line leaving Americans
out in the cold and stuck with our broken health care system. It¹s time to
end the campaign money chase and let politicians do what we elected them to
do‹debate and pass sound public policy that benefits all of us and not just
those who can make big campaign contributions.

³At a time when Congress is hotly debating health care reform, citizens want
to know that their elected officials are listening to them, not the
insurance companies and HMOs,² continued Donnelly. ³The best way to sever
the link between special interests and the people we elect is the Fair
Elections Now Act.²

The report is the second in a series of reports that examines the political
spending of the insurance and Health Services/HMO industries. The first
part, released yesterday, looked at the industries as a whole
(http://www.campaignmoney.org/HMO_insurance_spend_to_kill_reform).

The study analyzed political spending  campaign contributions by company
political action committees and employees, as well as lobbying expenses 
for the 14 insurance companies that were ranked in the largest 1,000
American corporations by Forbes Magazine earlier this year
(http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2009/industries/223/index
.html). 

Lobbying expenses and employee campaign contributions from America¹s Health
Insurance Plans, the industry¹s trade group, were also included in the
analysis. All of the data was compiled by reviewing records found at the
nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics website and the Senate lobbying
disclosure website. A chart below lists the companies and their political
spending: 

           2009
     2007-2009 
      
     Corporation/Association     Contributions     Lobbying
Contributions     Lobbying
     Aetna, Inc.     $11,200     $1,441,639     $949,496     $5,566,919
     America's Health Insurance Plans     $3,514     $3,900,000     $31,615
$18,340,000      
     Amerigroup Corp     $53,140     $215,000     $234,782     $720,000
     Centene Corp     $19,300     $230,000     $197,824     $720,000
     Cigna Corp     $57,365     $720,000     $385,175     $2,981,436
     Coventry Health Care     $19,100     $300,000     $129,300
$1,600,000      
     Health Net, Inc.     $11,300     $680,000     $352,788     $2,575,000
     Healthspring     $2,400     $90,000     $26,150     $290,000
     Humana, Inc.     $170,556     $950,000     $698,992     $3,418,945
     Medical Mutual of Ohio     $3,000     $0     $9,000     $0
     Molina Healthcare     $72,507     $270,000     $243,991     $1,490,000
     UnitedHealth Group     $130,200     $2,500,000     $1,014,961
$11,240,000      
     Universal American Financial Corp     $3,800     $865,000     $157,851
$2,618,000      
     WellCare Group     $2,500     $200,000     $183,461     $930,000
     Wellpoint     $202,400     $2,420,000     $922,795     $7,770,000
     Totals     $762,282     $14,781,639     $5,538,181     $60,260,300

Public Campaign Action Fund advocates for the Fair Elections Now Act (H.R.
1826, S. 752), or comprehensive public financing of elections. The bill was
introduced by House Democratic Caucus Chair John Larson (D-Conn.) and
Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and would provide
qualified federal candidates the opportunity to run for office with a
mixture of small donations and public funding.

Public Campaign Action Fund is a national nonprofit organization dedicated
to advancing comprehensive reform of America¹s election laws and works to
hold politicians accountable for the favors they do for special interests.

### 

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