In Michael Moore's newest movie,
Sicko, he attacks the
American health care industry, with an emphasis on the insurance industry (HMOs). But in between telling us the stories of people whom the insurance agency has failed and taking 9/11 rescue workers to Cuba, he talks about the health care lobby's effect on campaign finance.
He starts out with the example of Hillary Clinton (D-NY) -- former First Lady, Senator from New York, and current presidential hopeful -- who made health care her priority when her husband was president. She attempted to get government run healthcare for all, but the bill failed in the Senate. One would think that someone so passionate about a specific topic would keep fighting for what they believed in, especially if given the opportunity to serve in the United States Senate. But according to Moore she is now the second largest recipient of campaign donations from the health care industry, and has stopped talking about universal health care, taking in $835,511 from the health care industry (
opensecrets.org). I think that this has got to be more then a coincidence.
But Moore makes a larger point about campaign finance citing
that donations made to the campaigns of several Senators involved in the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act. He shows how former House Republican Billy Tauzin (R-LA), one of the major supporters of the aforementioned bill, became the head of the health care industry's lobbying group PhRMA right after he left Congress for a salary of $2 million. Moore also cites 14 Congressional aides who helped write the bill and also took private sector jobs with the health care lobby. He even says that there are more pharmaceutical lobbyists then Members of Congress. In my opinion this shows that the health care industry has too much influence in Congress simply because they have enough money to persuade various high powered legislators to ignore the problems with the American health care system.
To see how the health care industry affects politics in New York, click
here.
To see a recent New York Times editorial on campaign finance in New York, click
here.
Tags: Money in Politics, health care, Sicko, Michael Moore, Hillary Clinton, revolving door (all tags)
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