Nursing Home Industry's Political Contributions and Congress' Failure to Enact the Community Choice Act

Steve Gold's Information Bulletin # 257 (8/08) Disability and elderly advocates have attempted for a number of years to end the federal Medicaid "institutional bias" by amending Medicaid so it would provide a choice of either community-based services or institutional nursing facility. Currently before the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives is the Community Choice Act which would end this bias and give people a real choice. One would think the proposed Community Choice Act would be easy to enact, because the federal government and states would spend less Medicaid funds for people to live in the community. Also, according to AARP's surveys, more than 90% of the elderly do not want to live in a nursing facility but want to continue to reside in their own homes, so one would think our elected officials would enact the CCA. So why hasn't Congress stampeded to enact the Community Choice Act? Who could possible oppose eliminating Medicaid's institutional bias and who would oppose giving elderly and disabled people a real choice where they want to reside? The nursing home industry. And guess what the nursing home industry does to make sure Congress does not enact eliminate Medicaid's institutional bias by enacting the Community Choice Act? Surprise! They make contributions to our U.S. Senators and Representatives. We would never suggest that our elected officials could be beholden to their political contributors. But how truly committed to enacting the Community Choice Act are people who have accepted contributions from the industry that opposes community choice. Ask for a meeting with these officials. Use the information below to initiate a dialogue with your Senators and Representatives. When they say they are in favor of the Community Choice Act, ask them to return the nursing home industry contributions as a sign of good faith. If they say they oppose eliminating the institutional bias, discuss the contributions. Many newspapers and other media might also be interested. The American Health Care Association is the nursing home's trade association. We have looked only at the AHCA's political contributions in the last few election cycles and only at their contributions to elected U.S. officials-- not elected state officials. Please note that the following data does not include the many contributions individual nursing home executives, specific nursing homes, and for profit nursing facilities made directly to our elected federal officials. [FYI - You can find data for federally elected officials at http://www.opensecrets.org/ click on PAC and then in search bar type in American Health Care Assn. Comparable information is available for state elected officials at http://www.followthemoney.org/ ] United States Senators: Andrews, Robert (D-NJ) $ 1,000 Baucus, Max (D-MT) $20,999 Burr, Richard (R-NC) $10,000 Cardin, Ben (D-MD) $11,000 Clinton, Hillary (D-NY) $20,000 Cochran, Thad (R-MS) $10,000 Coleman, Norm (R-MN) $10,000 Collins, Susan (R-ME) $19,000 Conrad, Ken (D-ND) $23,750 Craig, Larry (R-ID) $ 6,500 Domenici, Pete ( R-NM) $12,000 Durbin, Dick (D-IL) $21,000 Graham, Lindsay ( R-SC) $12,000 Grassley, Chuck (R-IA) $22,000 Hagan, Kay (D-NC) $ 5,000 Harkin, Tom (D-IA) $14,000 Johnson, Tim (D-SD) $27,000 Kerry, John (D-MA) $10,000 Landrieu, Mary (D-LA) $10,000 Levin, Carl (D-MI) $ 400 Lincoln, Blanche (D-AR) $27,000 McConnell, Mitch ( R-KY) $ 8,000 Mikulski, Barbara (D-MD) $19,900 Nelson, Ben (D-NE) $16,000 Pryor, Mark (D-AR) $ 8,500 Reed, Jack (D-RI) $15,900 Risch, James (R-ID $ 2,000 Roberts, Pat (R-KS) $10,000 Rockefeller, Jay (D-WV) $15,500 Salazar, Ken (D-CO) $ 3,000 Schaffer, Bob (R-CO) $ 7,000 Smith, Gordon ( R-OR) $23,500 Specter, Arlen ( R-PA) $16,000 Stevens, Ted ( R- AK) $ 5,000 Udall, Mark (D -CO) $ 3,250 Warner, Mark ( D-VA) $ 5,000 Wilson, Heather (R-NM) $ 3,300 United States House of Representatives: Abrecrombie, Neil (D-HI) $11,300 Adler, John (D-NJ) $ 1,000 Alexander, Rodney ( R-LA) $ 1,000 Altmire, Jason (D-PA) $10,000 Arcuri, Michael (D-NY) $10,000 Barrett, Gresham ( R-SC) $21,000 Barrow, John (D-GA) $ 9,500 Barton, Joe ( R-TX) $12,000 Becerra, Xavier (D-CA) $25,500 Berkley, Shelly (D-NV) $23,500 Berry, Merion (D-AR) $12,500 Bishop, Sanford (D-GA) $ 1,000 Blunt, Roy ( R- MO) $29,500 Boehner, John ( R-OH) $25,500 Boyd, Allen (D-FL) $ 7,000 Bradley, Jeb ( R-NH) $ 5,500 Brady, Kevin ( R-TX) $ 3,500 Brown-Waite, Ginny(R-FL) $29,000 Buchanan, Vernon ( R-FL) $ 4,000 Burgess, Michael ( R-TX) $14,000 Butterfield, G.K. (D-NC) $ 1,000 Buyer, Steve (R-IN) $37,000 Calvert, Ken (R-CA) $11,500 Camp, Dave (R-MI) $21,700 Cantor, Eric (R-VA) $24,000 Capito, Shelley (R-WV) $31,250 Capps, Lois (D-CA) $27,500 Cardoza, Dennis (D-CA) $11,000 Carnahan, Russ (D-MO) $ 5,500 Carson, Andre (D-IN) $ 5,000 Castor, Kathy (D-FL) $ 5,000 Chandler, Ben (D-KY) $ 1,000 Clyburn, James (D-SC) $ 7,500 Courtney, Joe (D-CT) $12,000 Cummings, Elijah (D-MD) $ 4,000 Davis, Artur (D-AL) $ 4,000 Davis, Geoff (R-KY) $ 2,000 Deal, Nathan (R-GA) $28,500 DeLauro, Rosa (D-CT) $ 4,000 Dingell, John (D-MI) $47,000 Doggett, Lloyd (D-TX) $ 6,000 Donnelly, Joe (D-IN) $ 5,000 Dreier, David (R-CA) $ 4,100 Edwards, Chet (D-TX) $10,000 Emanuel, Rahm (D-IL) $11,500 Emerson, Jo Anne ( R-MO) $10,500 English, Phil (R-PA) $29,150 Eshoo, Anna (D-CA) $22,000 Feder, Judith (D-VA) $ 3,500 Frank, Barney (D-MA) $ 5,000 Garrett, Scott (R-NJ) $ 5,250 Gerlach, Jim (R-PA) $18,500 Giffords, Gabrielle (D-AZ) $ 2,000 Gillibrand, Kirsten (D-NY) $10,000 Gonzalez, Charlie (D-TX) $ 6,500 Gordon, Bart (D-TN) $24,000 Granger, Kay (R-TX) $ 1,500 Hall, Ralph (R-TX) $28,432 Hastert, Dennis (R-IL) $50,750 Heller, Dean (R-NV) $ 3,000 Herseth Sandlin, S (D-SD) $13,000 Higgins, Brian (D-NY) $ 2,000 Hill, Baron (D-IN) $10,000 Hobson, Dave (R-OH) $ 9,000 Hooley, Darlene (D-OR ) $ 1,500 Hoyer, Steny (D-MD) $46,000 Hulshof, Kenny (R-MO) $21,000 Jackson, Jesse (D-IL) $ 2,000 Kagen, Stephen (D-WI) $10,000 Kennedy, Patrick (D-RI) $24,200 Kind, Ron (D-WI) $ 6,500 King, Pete (R-NY) $ 7,500 Klein, Ron (D-FL) $10,000 Kuhl, John (R-NY) $ 8,300 Lamborn, Douglas ( R-CO) $ 500 Langevin, Jim (D-RI) $21,082 Larson, John (D-CT) $13,000 Latham, Tom (R-IA) $ 2,500 LaTourette, Steven (R-OH) $ 1,000 Levin, Sander (D-MI) $29,500 Lewis, John (D-GA) $ 2,000 Lewis, Ron (R-KY) $ 9,000 Linder, John (R-GA) $ 1,000 Loebsack, David (D-IA) $ 2,000 Lowey, Nita (D-NY) $ 1,500 Mahoney, Tim (D-FL) $10,000 Markey, Edward (D-MA) $ 8,000 Marshall, Jim (D-GA) $10,500 Matheson, Jim (D-UT) $ 7,000 Matsui, Doris (D-CA) $ 2,000 McCrery, Jim (R-LA) $31,500 McMorris, Cathy ( R-WA) $ 6,500 Michaud, Mike (D-ME) $ 8,500 Miller, Brad (D-NC) $ 3,000 Miller, George (D-CA) $15,000 Mitchell, Harry (D-AZ) $10,000 Moore, Dennis (D-KS) $ 3,000 Murphy, Tim (R-PA) $18,350 Neal, Richard (D-MA) $ 9,500 Obey, David (D-WI) $26,645 Pallone, Frank (D-NJ) $41,781 Pence, Mike (R-IN) $17,850 Perlmutter, Edwin (D-CO) $ 1,000 Peterson, John ( R-PA) $12,500 Pickering, Chip (R-MS) $24,000 Pitts, Joe (R-PA) $ 9,000 Pomeroy, Earl (D-ND) $46,000 Porter, Jon (R-NV) $18,000 Price, Tom (R-GA) $ 6,500 Radanovich, George (R-CA) $28,000 Ramstad, Jim (R-MN) $22,000 Rangel, Charles (D-NY) $21,000 Rodriguez, Ciro (D-TX) $ 1,500 Roskan, Peter (R-IL) $ 2,000 Ross, Mike (D-AR) $34,000 Roybal-Allard, Lucille(D-CA) $ 1,000 Ryan, Paul (R-WI) $29,500 Ryan, Tim (D-OH) $ 2,000 Salazar, John (D-CO) $ 6,000 Sali, William (R-ID) $ 3,000 Scalise, Stephen (R-LA) $ 1,000 Schock, Aaron (R-IL) $ 1,000 Schrader, Kurt (D-OR) $ 1,000 Schwartz, Allyson (D-PA) $ 9,250 Shafroth, William (D-C)) $ 250 Shays, Christopher ( R-CT) $ 8,500 Shimkus, John ( R-IL ) $39,000 Shuler, Heath (D-NC) $10,000 Souder, Mark (R-IN) $ 2,000 Space, Zachary (D-OH) $10,000 Speier, Jackie (D-CA) $ 1,000 Spratt, John (D- SC) $29,000 Stark, Pete (D-CA) $29,000 Stupak, Bart (D-MI) $19,000 Sullivan, John (R-OK) $ 3,000 Thompson, Bennie (D-MS) $ 2,000 Thompson, Mike (D-CA) $35,500 Tierney, John (D-MA) $ 5,000 Towns, Edolphuf (D-NY) $ 9,000 Tsongas, Niki (D-MA) $ 7,000 Turner, Michael ( R-OH) $ 2,000 Van Hollen, Chris ( D-MD) $ 1,000 Walberg, Tim (R-MI) $ 1,000 Walden, Greg (R-OR) $21,500 Walsh, James (R-NY) $ 8,500 Walz, Timothy (D-MN) $10,000 Waxman, Albert (D-MD) $ 2,000 Yarmuth, John (D-KY) $ 5,000 Young, Bill (R-FL) $ 8,000 "Power Concedes Nothing Without a Struggle." Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com/ with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects. To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com/