Influence of Lobbyists on Healthcare

Commentary by Jim Tate
Twitter: @JimTate

“Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies.” That is what Wikipedia tells us. They should know, they know everything.

The future of healthcare has been hacked by a system which allows undue influence by lobbyists on the governmental process. Don’t be fooled by claims that these intrusions by “subject matter experts” bring value to the process. That might be true if everyone was at the table but that is not the case. The concept of “common good” has been co-opted and we are left with what has become a mockery of our founding principles. This is nasty business and I would imagine probably not what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they referred to “We the People”. The system is inherently rigged and any regulations that emerge are tainted by the undue influence of stakeholders who have the most power, which usually means the most money. It does not matter if the Left or the Right is involved, the Fix is in. During the sausage making that went into the Affordable Care Act one can only guess at how much input was provided by insurance companies, hospital organizations, and other groups representing only one segment of the population. How many times did President Obama meet with these organizations compared to meeting with patient advocates? I don’t have to tell you, you know it is lopsided. And this was under the umbrella of a progressive administration. The gravy (when I was in China it was called “tea money”) is spread on both sides of the aisle.

OK, let’s take a quick look at who is shelling out the cash and has more input into how you receive your healthcare than you.  The numbers that follow are from 2012 only and are categorized as donations for the purpose of federal elections. I would suspect there is a little “tea money” being transferred at the state and local level. To take a dive into more details and find out who the lobbyists are and their governmental background take a look at OpenSecrets.org.
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Pharmaceuticals/Health Products:  $231,586,960 “given” for 2012 with top honors going to the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America who dispersed $18,530,000. The laggard, with a pitiful $7000, was what Conceptus had to throw into the pot. One wonders what they hoped to get with that pittance? Maybe it paid for a few rounds at the bar.

Health Professionals: $77,592,664 “given” and as expected the AMA weighed in heavily with a $16,500,000 tab for 2012. Talking some good “grease” here and I would certainly hope their voice was heard loud and clear.

 Health Services/HMOs $68,839,838: I have to admit I was surprised that the winner here was Blue Cross/Blue Shield with only $4,640,000. That looks chintzy to me since BC/BS seems to be in pretty good shape.  In 2011 the ten highest paid executives at the company that operates BC/BS in Illinois and three other states received a total of $41,700,000. Forget US Senators, those folks are the real players. Maybe it gets down to personality type if you prefer money to power.

Patients: $0: Something is obviously wrong here with the data. Maybe the spreadsheet was corrupted or the database crashed. I wasn’t able to find any Patient Advocacy Groups who were able to assist with even a measly $1,000,000 to help out those federal campaign committees. I hear Karl Rove is looking for a job and maybe he can boost the visibility of this niche segment of the healthcare crowd.

Jim Tate is founder of EMR Advocate and a nationally recognized expert on the CMS EHR Incentive Program, certified EHR technology and meaningful use.