Lobbying and Democracy II

An interesting article in the National Journal yesterday (http://undertheinfluence.nationaljournal.com/2010/01/health-insurers-funded-chamber.php) highlights the fact that six of the biggest health care insurers were spending between $10 and $20 million last summer, through the Better Business Bureau, to air ads that argued against the very legislation they were supposedly working on with Obama and Congress. There is, of course, nothing implictly wrong with this -- in fact, Madison argued for the power of factions to battle each other and thus balance out power. Yet one has to wonder what faction is challenging the power these large corporations have to dominate the form and framing of the debate. This spending did seem to reap benefits for the private healthcare industry, by turning the public against the public option and reform in general based on a series of half-truths and lies.

"The ads sharply criticized the high costs of the separate bills, especially the House version. The commercials warned the legislation would raise taxes for Americans and hurt the economy as it tries to recover from the recession. And some chamber-financed commercials attacked setting up a government run plan to compete with private insurers -- a special sore point for the insurance industry -- which is part of the House measure. The U.S. Chamber has spent approximately $70 million to $100 million on the advertising effort, according to lobbying sources. It's unclear whether the business lobby group went to AHIP with a request to help raise funds for its ad drives, or whether AHIP approached the chamber with an offer to hit up its member companies."