Hernandez Received $29K From Health Care Lobbyists
In the first half of 2011, Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) received nearly $29,000 in campaign contributions from several health care lobbying groups that opposed a bill (AB 52) that would have given state officials the power to regulate health insurance rate increases. As chair of the California Senate Health Committee, Hernandez recently helped shelve the legislation. The contributions to Hernandez's campaign -- which came from groups such as the California Hospital Association, the California Association of Health Plans and the California Medical Association -- were reported in a new Payers & Providers white paper examining the links between campaign finances and health care.
- "Senate Health Chair's Troubling Ties" (Payers & Providers, 9/22).