Pharma & Insurance Gave $43M to the 130 House Democrats Not Backing Medicare for All

[gritpost.com]

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) recently rolled out House Democrats’ version of a Medicare for All proposal that would ensure all Americans have guaranteed healthcare.

The bill (H.R. 1384) has an impressive 106 co-sponsors, and has been called “the most ambitious Medicare-for-All plan yet” by Vox, which also reported the benefits the House bill contained were even more significant than the companion bill Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) first introduced in his chamber. Under Jayapal’s plan, private, for-profit health insurance plans would be eliminated, and all Americans would be covered by a government-administered single-payer healthcare plan.

Additionally, Rep. Jayapal’s bill — the Medicare for All Act of 2019 — calls for a two-year transition from the current system to the one she proposes, rather than a four-year transition, as Sanders proposed. The House bill would put everyone under the age of 19 and over the age of 55 on the single-payer plan after one year, and then everyone in between the following year.

“We will be pushing it as hard as we can and as fast as we can,” Rep. Jayapal said. “Enough nibbling around the edges. We really need to transform the system.”

Should the House bill become law, the system that would replace Medicaid and Medicare (healthcare programs for veterans and Indigenous peoples would remain) would provide even more coverage than the universal healthcare system in Canada, as Jayapal’s plan would cover long-term care services for nursing services. Americans would no longer have to come up with emergency room co-pays or fees for doctor’s visits. The only out-of-pocket spending would be on prescription drugs — which would come at a lower price due to the government negotiating on patients’ behalf.

However impressive 106 House Democrats co-sponsoring the bill may be, that number falls short of the 218 votes needed for a bill to pass the House of Representatives with a majority vote. Even though there are 235 House Democrats, 112 of the 130 House Democrats currently not listed as co-sponsors on Rep. Jayapal’s bill would need to come on board in order for the bill to be able to pass the chamber and go to the Senate.

As Grit Post reported last year, private health insurance companies (and pharmaceutical drug manufacturers) were spending big on making sure that Senate Democrats up for re-election in competitive races would allow the for-profit system to remain in place. And according to new research, it appears that the healthcare industry’s robust election spending also benefited House Democrats.

Using campaign finance data made publicly available by the Center for Responsive Politics, Grit Post calculated that donors in the insurance and pharmaceutical industries gave a combined $43,740,947 in career campaign donations to the 130 House Democrats who have not yet signed on as co-sponsors to Rep. Jayapal’s bill. House Democrats received anywhere from $9,570 in financial support from pharma and insurance to $3.2 million, depending on the member.

Of those 130 House Democrats not yet co-sponsoring the Medicare for All Act of 2019, 48 of them were elected in the “blue wave” of 2018. Additionally, not one member of House Democrats’ leadership has co-sponsored the bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland), House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-South Carolina), and House Democratic Caucus chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) have all received generous donations from pharma and insurance (Hoyer alone received more than $2.5 million in career donations) throughout their Congressional careers.

Below are the names of all 130 House Democrats not co-sponsoring H.R. 1384, in alphabetical order. In some cases, donor data is not available, as that member is brand-new to Congress and their campaign finance reports have not yet been added to the OpenSecrets.org database. In other cases, like that of Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawaii), members’ data is incomplete, as they have been redistricted to a new district, leaving a gap in campaign finance data.

{Names and donations (OpenSecrets) of all 130 Democrats on website}