This morning on C-Span, the editor of a prominent politics and culture magazine stated that there were seven health care lobbyists for every member of Congress! That’s right – 7. So, of course, I went to validate this number.
The figures I turned up, based on a cursory scan of Google entries with different sets of key words, ranged from six to thirteen (!) health care lobbyists between 2002 and 2013. I couldn’t find more recent ones. I presume the number fluctuates depending on how “hot” certain legislation and bills are before our elected officials.
BUT..even one health care lobbyist for every Senator and Representative would be a frightening number. In other words, it could be off by a factor of seven and still make me ill. Imagine what other industries have for lobbyists, like energy and financial services and defense contractors.
When you think about the numbers shaping our lives (the tag line for my latest book, Painting By Numbers: How to Sharpen Your BS Detector and Smoke Out the Experts), this is one that looms larger than many others.
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