Health Care Reform Advocates Have ‘Wasted No Time’ on Lobbying for Legislation, According to The Politico

Health care reform advocates "have wasted no time transforming their massive campaign resources into lobbying drives" to encourage federal lawmakers and President-elect Barack Obama's administration to address the issue, The Politico reports. Health Care for America Now in 2009 plans to spend $25 million on lobbying efforts on health care reform, and the Service Employees International Union in January 2009 plans to launch a national campaign to encourage lawmakers to pass a comprehensive health care reform bill within the first 120 days of the Obama administration. In addition, AARP after the election launched an almost $1 million online, television and print advertising campaign to promote health care reform.

The "quick pivot to lobbying is no surprise," as the "health care reform community has been preparing for the battle for more than a year," and advocates remain "cautiously optimistic" about the prospects for health care reform under the Obama administration, The Politico reports. According to The Politico, "painting health care as a critical component of righting a listing economy will be a major theme as the various groups work to ensure reform isn't overshadowed by the economic crisis."

Jacki Schechner, a spokesperson for Health Care for America Now, said, "The whole goal of this is to get something done in 2009, and we've got the guy in office we needed to do it. So now we've got to get started," adding, "Our job is to be the army behind Obama, saying we can't afford not to do health care." Dennis Rivera, chair of SEIU Healthcare, said, "For 100 years, we've been trying to enact universal health care coverage, and we've failed." John Rother, executive vice president of policy at AARP, said, "We expect leadership to deliver now that there's been an election based on these issues" (Kady/Frates, The Politico, 11/11).