Election 2008 — Campaign Contributions, Lobbying, and the U.S. Health Sector
Source: New England Journal of Medicine

Aside from the war in Iraq, health care has been the most important issue for the U.S. public in the early phase of the 2008 presidential campaign, ranking higher than both immigration and the economy. Indeed, a majority of the U.S. population thinks that the federal government “should guarantee health insurance for all Americans,” particularly children. Americans would be willing to pay higher taxes to make changes possible, although, like politicians, they disagree about whether participation in a national health care plan should be required and whether the government or private insurers would do a better job of providing coverage.

What the next president of the United States does or does not advocate with regard to expanding coverage for the uninsured and reducing the costs of care may affect the health care system for years. Between January and June 2007 — the latter being about 16 months before the election — the presidential candidates raised more than $265 million. This represents the fastest start to presidential fund-raising ever, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (www.opensecrets.org), a nonpartisan group that researches money in politics. The eventual Democratic and Republican nominees could each ultimately raise $500 million or more — record amounts. So far, however, only a small percentage of the contributions — albeit millions of dollars — has come from people who are affiliated with the health sector or from political action committees (PACs) associated with the health sector.

Under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, the contribution limit for an individual is $2,300 per candidate per election; primary and general elections are considered separate elections. The Center for Responsive Politics analyzes campaign finance data reported to the Federal Election Commission and classifies contributions of $200 or more from individual donors or PACs into 13 sectors; the health sector includes doctors, drug companies, and hospitals, among other groups. For the first half of 2007, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, senator from New York and the leading fund-raiser, collected $63.1 million, of which $1.7 million, or 2.7%, was from the health sector. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the second-leading fund-raiser among the Democratic candidates, collected $58.9 million; $1.2 million, or 2.1%, was from the health sector. Republican candidate Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and the leading Republican fund-raiser, collected $44.4 million, including $1.4 million, or 3.1%, from the health sector. Rudolph Giuliani, the second-leading fund-raiser among the Republican candidates and the former mayor of New York City, raised $35.6 million, including nearly $900,000, or 2.5%, from the health sector. Republican candidate Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin, who was the secretary of health and human services from 2001 to 2005, received the highest percentage of funds from the health sector — 6.1% — but he raised less than $900,000 overall.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 1:04 pm and is filed under Government and politics, Health and healthcare, Political process. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.