There’s been a lot of talk this week about big corporations such as Amazon, Verizon and Comcast deciding to stop giving money to House and Senate Republicans who voted to overturn last year’s election.
Guess which giants aren’t on that list? America’s big for-profit health insurers.
Over the past two election cycles, Big Insurance has donated to just about all the 147 House and Senate Republicans who voted against certifying the election. That includes Cigna and Humana, where I once worked, and Centene and CVS/Aetna. Plus, the industry’s lobbying group, the American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, which represents a lot of nonprofit insurers and for-profit Anthem, says it’s suspending donations to those Republicans. And UnitedHealth says it will “pause” its political donations. But let’s see how long these “pauses” actually last.
So far, we haven’t heard a peep from AHIP or the other big for-profits, all of which have made huge profits during the pandemic, thanks largely to having lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle in their pockets.
Big Insurance donated more than $9 million to House and Senate candidates during the 2020 cycle. Among their favorites? Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, who led the effort to overturn the election. All the big for-profits donated to Cruz, and all but CVS/Aetna donated to Hawley.
Enough with the games.
It’s time for Centene, Cigna, CVS/Aetna, Humana, UnitedHealth, AHIP and Blue Cross Blue Shield to permanently suspend donations to members of Congress who voted to overturn the wishes of America’s voters to push Donald Trump out of the White House.
It’s also time for all Democrats to refuse donations from Big Insurance from now on. My old industry is also one of the biggest spenders on *lobbying* in Washington, dropping more than $65 million lobbying Congress and the White House, all to protect their profits.
Meanwhile, growing numbers of health insurance customers are forced to file for bankruptcy, or turn to GoFundMe because of denied claims and exorbitant deductibles & copays. Big Insurance is already doing enough damage. The least it can do is stop funding an insurrection.
The Potter Report is co-published by To Be Fair, Inc. 501(c)3/Tarbell.org and Business Leaders for Health Care Transformation.
Wendell Potter
To Be Fair, Inc. and Tarbell.org founder Wendell Potter is an American consumer advocate, New York Times bestselling author, consultant, and former health insurance industry executive. A critic of HMOs and of the tactics used by insurers, Potter is also an advocate for major reforms of the industry, including universal health care.
