Saturday, July 18, 2009

1,534 children

The local Santa Fe newspaper included in its coverage of local demonstrations in favor of health care reform a listing of how much the New Mexico congressional delegation has taken from "health care interests". They have included an interesting way of looking at those donations, the number of children who could have been covered based on the cost of basic coverage for a person under 18 in the New Mexico Medical Insurance Pool.
What follows are total campaign donations from health care interests to New Mexico’s congressional delegation members over the span of their careers, as calculated by the Center for Responsive Politics at opensecrets.org.

Only Bingaman had significant insurance industry contributions, so SFR didn’t list insurance contributions to the other lawmakers. For comparison’s sake, the average US representative has taken $34,676 in donations from “health professionals;” the average US senator has taken $84,983.

SEN. JEFF BINGAMAN, D-NM
Rank of “health professionals” among industry contributors: 2
Total from health pros: $547,616
Rank of the insurance industry: 11
Total from insurance: $160,875
Number of New Mexico children who could’ve been insured for a year with the sum of those contributions: 968*
Boilerplate health care statement from website: “I strongly support a public option. The most critical elements of such a plan are that it would be established and overseen by the federal government, and made available to all Americans.”

SEN. TOM UDALL, D-NM
Rank of health pros among industry contributors: 9
Total from health pros: $276,170
Children that money could’ve insured: 377
Interview talking points: “I’m in support of a public option. I think we need it to keep the insurance companies honest. I think we need the competition that a public option would bring,” Udall tells SFR.

REP. BEN RAY LUJÁN, D-NM
Rank of health pros among industry
contributors: 9
Total from health pros: $41,050
Children that money could’ve insured: 56
Boilerplate: “It’s time to fix this broken system that is making it difficult for families to make ends meet. Ben supports comprehensive health care reform that makes health care affordable and accessible for American families.”

REP. MARTIN HEINRICH, D-NM
Rank of health pros among industry
contributors: 10
Total from health pros: $56,550
Children that money could’ve insured: 77
Boilerplate: “We should use our ingenuity to develop a fair, common sense plan to make sure that every American has access to high quality affordable health care.”

REP. HARRY TEAGUE, D-NM
Rank of health pros among industry
contributors: 14
Total from health pros: $40,900
Children that money could’ve insured: 56
Boilerplate: “Harry will work to make sure every American takes responsibility for his or her health by choosing an option that is affordable and works for them. Harry also believes that in order to decrease the cost of health insurance, we must bring a new focus on prevention.”
Enough money to insure 1,534 kids spent to make sure those kids and others like them never get the coverage Americans deserve. And that is just one small state whose crew doesn't even break the Top 20 money list.

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