Much has been made of the egregious sums of money that get ‘donated’ to members of Congress to influence legislation and avoid reform — and, for all intents and purposes, accountability — but oft overlooked in the ongoing health care reform debate is the amount of money that the health care industry gave to President Barack Obama when he was a candidate in 2008.
To the healthcare industry, Barack Obama, who received almost three times more than Senator John McCain during the election cycle, is the $20 million dollar man. Analysis from the Center for Responsive Politics for Raw Story revealed that President Obama received a staggering $20,175,303 from the healthcare industry in 2008 while John McCain received $7,758,289 in ‘contributions.’
A revealing report from Raw Story shows that Obama received $19,462,986 from the health sector, which includes $11.7m from health professionals, $1.4m from health services/HMOs, $3.3m from hospitals/nursing homes and $2.1m from pharmaceuticals/health products. The remaining balance of the more than $20 million consisted of miscellaneous health donations from which Obama received $860,411. Your rising insurance premiums are being used to pay off politicians in Washington. An explanation of the complete breakdown can be found in the article from Raw Story. There is definitely a relationship between Obama and the health sector.
The staggering amount of ‘contributions’ from the health care industry to their $20 million dollar man in the White House serves as one example of why the endless cycle of corruption in Washington never ends and why it’s time to change or abolish lobbying laws and the corporate ownership of America’s politicians. Until it changes, the American people will continue being on the short end of the stick. Even more staggering is the fact that Americans donated half a billion dollars to Obama when he was campaigning and this is the thanks they get.