US Health Interests Spend $600 Million to Sway Congress

Bloomberg — More than $600 million has been spent so far this year trying to influence U.S. lawmakers working to overhaul the health-care system, reports show. The health industry spent $396 million through Sept. 30, more than anyone else and up 9 percent over the same period a year ago, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group. Those numbers don’t include spending on lobbying by insurers such as the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and its member companies, which spent $16.7 million in the first nine months of 2009, compared with $16.2 million in all of 2008.  Read Article

Ed – This is how the current “democratic capitalism” system operates. They will also have spent hundred’s of millions of dollars swaying media outlets, whether it be through direct lobbying or threatening to pull advertising spending if unfavourable coverage is given. And that is how corporations can sway entire nations to their commercial whims.

Tags: corruption, nature of corporations, pharmaceuticals, politics