Health Care Has Become the New ‘Pork,’ New York Times Says

Health care has become the new "darling" of congressional "pork barrel spending," with "tens of millions of federal dollars" that once went to roads and dams now going toward hospitals, medical schools and smaller health care projects, the New York Times reports. President Bush and Mitchell Daniels, his budget director, had asked Congress to cut back this year on most directed expenditures -- "known as earmarks for their obvious links to the members promoting them," the Times explains -- saying that the designations "circumvented the usual process of awarding federal grants after thorough evaluations of the merits of proposals." But more than 600 health-related initiatives will receive funds this year, up from "well below 100" in the last few years. Observers said there are several reasons for the increase in earmarks. Hospitals have successfully made the case that they are "major employers and engines of economic growth" in many regions and that "rigid" Medicare reimbursement formulas do not cover their expenses or adequately account for "special circumstances." Their lobbying efforts have been made more successful through the aid of firms such as Cassidy & Associates, which now specialize in health care lobbying. Many experts also point to the relative balance of power in Congress as a major catalyst for the increase in earmarks: Because neither party has "much of a numerical advantage," individual lawmakers have more power and leverage. Most of the programs receiving federal money are in states or districts represented by members of the congressional leadership or by members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, the Times notes. For example, West Virginia, home of Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Robert Byrd (D), will receive $6.9 million for West Virginia University, $2.9 million for the "mountaineer doctor" program, $2 million for an obesity center and $2 million in seed money for a "virtual medical campus." Three hospitals in House Speaker Dennis Hastert's (R-Ill.) home state were "explicitly" designated as grant recipients. Some lawmakers say the earmarks show they are "doing what they were elected to do" by bringing funds to their states and districts. Others, however, say such spending should be scaled back. "We simply cannot afford pork barrel politics right now," Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) said (Pear, New York Times, 12/25).