Heavy Health Industry Presence In Baucus Schedule
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus is one of only five United States senators posting a daily schedule on their official web site. (See Baucus’ schedule here.) Baucus’ schedule lists numerous meetings with health care industry executives, lobbyists and union officials with a stake in the health care reform debate. The schedule shows meetings with health industry groups make up the plurality of the senator’s listed meetings that relate to health care, sharply ahead of pro-reform non-profits and labor organizations. Health industry groups were involved in 20 of the 55 meetings Baucus lists that relate to health reform discussions involving individuals or organizations outside of Congress. This is compared to 12 for pro-reform and labor organizations.
The list of attendees at meetings in Baucus’ office reads like a who’s who of the health care heavy hitters. Among those attending meetings with the senator were PhRMA President & CEO Billy Tauzin, Amgen CEO Kevin Sharer, Aetna CEO Ron Williams, Wellpoint CEO Angela Braly, Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler, Abbott Laboratories Chairman & CEO Miles White, AstraZeneca CEO David Brennan, GlaxoKlineSmith CEO Andrew Witty and Blue Cross Blue Shield President & CEO Scott Serota. These executives represent key industry groups that are opposed to many provisions in the currently offered health reform bills in Congress.
Contributions to Baucus from attending organizations (2003-2008) | |
---|---|
Amgen | $70,750 |
Blue Cross Blue Shield | $62,350 |
Aetna | $53,250 |
Pfizer | $47,100 |
AstraZeneca | $37,300 |
Abbott Laboratories | $34,000 |
GlaxoKlineSmith | $29,500 |
US Oncology | $14,750 |
Wellpoint | $11,250 |
SEIU | $10,000 |
AFL-CIO | $5,000 |
HCA | $1,000 |
The organizations run by the attendees are also large contributors to the Max Baucus’ reelection campaigns. All of the above mentioned organizations contributed at least $10,000 to Baucus’ last run for reelection in 2008. Leading the pack is Amgen, having contributed $70,750 to Baucus’ 2008 campaign. Close behind is Blue Cross Blue Shield with $62,350 in campaign contributions to the senator’s campaign. Blue Cross Blue Shield President & CEO Scott Serota and Amgen CEO Kevin Sharer were the only health industry executives to receive more than one meeting with the senator.
Some of these organizations currently employ former Baucus staffers as lobbyists. David Castagnetti, formerly Baucus’ chief of staff, lobbies on behalf of Abbott Laboratories, AstraZeneca, General Electric Health Care, and PhRMA; Scott Olsen lobbies for Amgen, as does another former chief of staff, Jeff Forbes; Forbes also lobbies for PhRMA. There are no meetings disclosed in Baucus’ schedule that include any of his former staffers turned lobbyists. The connections these former staffers have with Baucus’ office may have aided in getting the corporate executives into the door.
Baucus also held a number of meetings, albeit fewer than with corporate interests, with labor organizations and non-profits supportive of reform efforts. These organizations include the AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Kaiser Family Foundation, Families USA and Doctors for America. Unlike the corporate attendees to Baucus’ meetings these organizations did not provide substantial campaign contributions to the senator’s campaigns. The two labor organizations, AFL-CIO and SEIU, combined to contribute only $15,000 to Baucus’ 2008 campaign war chest.
Sen. Baucus began posting his daily schedule in September 2007. None of this information would be available if Sen. Baucus had not made the decision to make his schedule available to the public, a personally brave decision in favor of greater transparency. While it took the pressure of a lawsuit to get the White House to release their health care visitor logs, Sen. Baucus’ has made the decision to run his office in a transparent manner. If only all congressional offices provided this level of transparency. While this schedule is in no way official or authoritative, and may not include meetings that Sen. Baucus does not wish to reveal, it provides a unique view into the meetings of one of the most influential members of Congress involved in the debate over health care.
Date | Time | |
07/14/09 | 2:30pm | Meeting With Jack McMahon, Medical Director of the Mountain Pacific Health Foundation |
07/06/09 | 5:00pm | Meeting with Andy Stern, President of SEIU |
06/24/09 | 3:00pm | Meeting with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Andy Stern (SEIU) and Dennis Rivera (SEIU) |
06/17/09 | 6:30pm | Speak at the American Medical Group Association’s Annual Reception |
06/16/09 | 6:30pm | Meeting with Director of the White House Office of Health Reform Nancy-Ann DeParle |
06/04/09 | 3:00pm | Meeting with Healthcare Stakeholder Groups |
06/03/09 | 11:15am | Meeting with Single Payer Advocates and Senator Bernie Sanders |
6:30pm | Speak to ISI’s Health Policy Conference | |
06/02/09 | 4:30pm | Meeting with Billy Tauzin (PhRMA), Jeff Kindler (Pfizer), Kevin Sharer (Amgen), and Miles White (Abbott) |
6:30pm | Meeting with Director of the White House Office of Health Reform Nancy-Ann DeParle | |
05/21/09 | 8:00am | Speak at a Health Care Reform Newsmakers Breakfast hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Families USA, and the National Federation of Independent Business |
05/19/09 | 6:00pm | Meeting with the Director of the White House Office of Health Reform Nancy-Ann DeParle |
05/18/09 | 2:00pm | Meeting with Tom Donohue (Chamber of Commerce) |
05/13/09 | 11:30am | Meeting with Healthcare Stakeholder Groups |
05/12/09 | 6:00pm | Call with the Director of the White House Office of Health Reform Nancy-Ann DeParle |
6:30pm | Meeting with Andy Stern (SEIU) | |
05/07/09 | 8:00am | Speak at a breakfast policy forum hosted by The Hill and AstraZeneca |
4:30pm | Meeting with David Brennan (CEO, AstraZeneca) | |
05/06/09 | 5:30pm | Meeting with Physicians |
6:00pm | Attend General Electric Reception regarding their new health care initiative | |
05/05/09 | 4:30pm | Videoconference with The Business Council’s Spring Meeting on health care reform |
05/04/09 | 11:30am | Press conference call with Doctors for America |
04/30/09 | 11:45am | Meeting with Dr. John Bax |
2:45pm | Meeting with Healthcare Stakeholder Groups | |
04/28/09 | 12:30pm | Meeting with Angela Braly (CEO, Wellpoint) |
6:15pm | Meeting with members of the Montana Healthcare Association | |
04/24/09 | 3:00pm | Conference call with the Montana Healthcare Reform Advisory Council |
04/21/09 | 5:30pm | Call with the National Governors Association’s Health Care Task Force |
04/20/09 | 11:30am | Meeting with Andy Stern (SEIU) |
5:45pm | Meeting with Kevin Sharer (CEO, Amgen) | |
04/07/09 | 2:00pm | Community Health Forum at St. James Hospital (Butte, MT) |
03/31/09 | 2:30pm | Meeting with Ron Williams (CEO, Aetna) |
3:45pm | Meeting with Don Hamm (President & CEO, Assurant Health) | |
03/26/09 | 2:45pm | Meeting with members of the Montana Primary Care Association |
03/24/09 | 11:45am | Meeting with John Sweeney (AFL-CIO) |
03/19/09 | 2:30pm | Meeting with Healthcare Stakeholder Groups |
03/12/08 | 3:00pm | Meeting with Dr. Georges Benjamin (Executive Director, American Public Health Association) |
03/11/08 | 2:45pm | Meeting with Bruce Broussard (CEO & Director, US Oncology) |
4:30pm | Meeting with White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle | |
7:00pm | Speak to the Board of Directors of the National Business Group on Health | |
03/10/08 | 12:00pm | Meeting with Drew Altman (President & CEO, Kaiser Family Foundation) |
03/09/08 | 3:45pm | Meeting with Dr. Cindy Markus |
03/05/09 | 12:30pm | White House Forum on Health Reform |
03/03/09 | 8:00am | Speak at a Health Care Reform Newsmakers Breakfast hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Families USA, and the National Federation of Independent Business |
11:45am | Meeting with Scott Serota (President & CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield) | |
03/02/09 | 3:30pm | Meeting with Jack Bovender (Chairman, HCA) |
02/26/09 | 3:00pm | Meeting with Healthcare Stakeholder Groups |
02/13/09 | 11:00am | Meeting with Alan Rosenbloom (President, Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care) |
02/12/09 | 11:45am | Meeting with Andrew Witty (CEO, GlaxoKlineSmith) |
5:30pm | Meeting with John Hammergren (President & CEO, McKesson Corporation) | |
02/09/09 | 5:30pm | Meeting with Andy Stern, Bill Novelli, Dan Danner, and John Castellani |
02/03/09 | 9:00am | Speak at the 2009 National Health Policy Conference |
02/02/09 | 3:00pm | Conference call with CEOs from the Business Roundtable |
01/22/08 | 3:00pm | Meeting with Scott Serota (President & CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield) |