Study Details How Health Lobby Marshaled Congressional Insiders to Fight Reform from Capital Eye

 by Dave Levinthal http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2009/12/new-study-details-how-health-l.html

An army of congressional insiders -- from former aides and top staffers to ex-congressmen themselves -- have worked as registered lobbyists in helping hundreds of health care-related clients fight federal reform efforts, a new report by the Tribune Newspapers Washington Bureau, Medill News Service and Center for Responsive Politics indicates.

The months-long study, to be published in Sunday's edition of the Chicago Tribune and available online today, details how these congressional experts have often successfully achieved the goals of their private-sector clients by twisting, tweaking and otherwise convincing lawmakers to alter the trajectory of health reform legislation.

Among the study's findings: At least 166 former aides from the nine congressional leadership offices and five committees involved in shaping health overhaul legislation -- along with at least 13 former lawmakers -- registered to represent at least 339 health care clients since the beginning of last year.

Lindsay Renick Mayer, the Center for Responsive Politics' longtime money-in-politics reporter, spent months advising and working with Tribune Newspaper Washington Bureau and Medill News Service journalists on the project. CRP researcher Matthias Jaime, meanwhile, provided invaluable data analysis for the project.

Read the report's main article here.

Additionally, the report includes several features that help further illuminate the issue of health care lobbying, including an extensive, searchable database and a health reform legislation navigator.