Spending to sway health care tops $600 million, reports say

— More than $600 million has been spent this year in efforts to influence U.S. lawmakers working to overhaul the health-care system, reports show.

The health industry spent $396 million through Sept. 30, more than anyone else and up 9 percent over the same period a year ago, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group.

Those numbers don’t include spending on lobbying by insurers such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield and its member companies, which spent $16.7 million in the first nine months of 2009, compared with $16.2 million in all of 2008.

“The health-care industry has a full-court press on members of Congress,” said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat.

Another $200 million has been spent on television advertising for and against overhauling health care, according to TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group, an Arlington, Va.-based company that tracks political advertising.

The U.S. House passed health-care legislation last month. The Senate has overcome procedural hurdles to pave the way for approval of its version by Christmas.

Health-industry shares have risen 18 percent this year, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Health-Care Index. Tenet Healthcare Corp., the Dallas-based hospital chain, led the index with an almost fivefold gain, followed by Intuitive Surgical Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., a maker of robotic surgical systems, which has more than doubled.

The S&P index of six managed-care insurers has risen 34 percent this year.Cigna Corp. of Philadelphia, up 120 percent, and Coventry Health Care Inc. of Bethesda, Md., up 69 percent, have led the advance. The index has jumped 12 percent since Dec. 9, when Senate Democrats dropped a proposal for a government-run plan to compete with private insurers.

Drug companies have gained 16 percent this year, as measured by the by S&P Pharmaceutical Index. New York-based Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drugmaker, rose 5.5 percent.

Pfizer’s trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, spent $19.9 million through September. That’s the third-highest amountbehind the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp., and almost as much as the $20.2 million the group spent in 2008.

There are 3,300 lobbyists registered to lobby on health care, Senate records show, six for each of the 535 members of the House and Senate.

More than 1,400 of those lobbying on health care formerly worked for Congress, the White House or federal agencies, including 55 former lawmakers.

“This is the way the political system works,” said Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat. “People curry favor in all kinds of different ways.”

Many of those lobbyists visited the White House to meet with President Barack Obama and top administration officials, according to visitor logs.

Health-carevisitors included Karen Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the trade group for private insurers; Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America President Billy Tauzin, a former U.S. representative; and Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager of Health Care for America Now, a coalition of labor unions and advocacy groups.

Front Section, Pages 8 on 12/23/2009

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