Health Care Lobbying Spending in Calif. Increased by 10% in 2013
Spending on health care lobbying in California increased by more than 10% in 2013, totaling nearly $37.7 million, according to reports filed with the Secretary of State, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.
Details of Spending on Lobbying
Lobbying funds could be spent on:
- Contract lobby firms;
- In-house lobbyist salaries; and
- Policy advisers.
According to the reports, the top 10 spenders paid nearly $13 million in health care lobbying efforts last year, compared with $11 million in 2012.
Kaiser Permanente spent $2.4 million on lobbying in 2013, while the California Association of Health Plans spent $1.2 million on such efforts last year.
Charles Bacchi, executive vice president of CAHP, said, "Health care is a big part of the gross national product nationally and in California, and it's going through a time of great change."
Reason for Increased Spending
According to the Business Journal, the increase in spending could be in response to Affordable Care Act implementation and the creation of Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange.
Jim Gross, a partner at the lobbying firm Nielsen Merksamer Parrinello Gross & Leoni, said groups also could have increased their lobbying in response to an expansion of Medi-Cal -- the state's Medicaid program -- and Sen. Ed Hernandez's (D-West Covina) scope of practice legislation (SB 491, SB 492 and SB 493) (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 2/4).
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