UPMC, its hospitals outpace Highmark’s in-state lobbying
By Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Since the beginning of 2012, UPMC has spent more than
Highmark, meanwhile, has spent at least
Highmark's
The tabulations are not an exact science; reporting requirements differ from state to state and are subject to interpretation by those compiling and submitting the reports. "Issue ads" are another gray area, as they could be counted toward a company's "non-direct" communication spending -- that is, lobbying that solicits action from the general public, but not lawmakers themselves.
"UPMC broadly reports our time and expense -- in fact, we probably overreport out of an abundance of caution," said UPMC spokesman
The sums reported by the companies do not include what is spent on the companies' behalf, using their own contributions, by lobbying groups such as the Hospital and
The figures are not surprising. What may be more surprising is that the companies didn't spend more. As a broad topic, health care accounts for the biggest piece of what's spent annually on lobbying in
In 2012, companies and advocacy groups of all sorts reported spending a total of
More tangentially,
It's the same story nationally. Last year, about
"Leave aside that it's one-seventh of the economy," said
Even though the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, the subsequent years have been spent shaping the regulations that kicked in as the law gradually took effect. Some of those regulations are still being written; others have already been written, but their implementation dates have been postponed. That includes the universal annual cap on out-of-pocket health care expenses and the requirement that all businesses with 50 or more full-time workers provide health coverage or pay a fine.
Meanwhile, insurers are still pushing for an extension of the reimbursement program that will help them cover losses if the policies they sell on the federal health care exchange lose money in the early years.
"There are so many unsettled issues around health care,"
Lobbying money is not the same as campaign money.
Campaign spending comes in a variety of forms -- direct and indirect communications, gifts, hotels, meals and incurred transportation expenses. Most of that money is spent on communications: meeting with the policymakers and their staffs, or trying to influence third-parties to do their own lobbying.
Highmark uses
UPMC uses
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