As the high-stakes battle over health care escalates in Congress, Minnesota’s medical industry is pouring millions into lobbying with Medtronic and United Health Group alone spending more than $6.7 million this year to make their case to lawmakers.
“Medtronic is gangbusters for lobbying,” said Dave Levinthal, communications director at the Center for Responsive Politics.
The medical device manufacturer spent $3.2 million on lobbying this year and United Health paid out more than $3.5 million as Congress considers sweeping changes in the nation’s health-care system.
According to newly filed documents, Medronic funneled $962,000 toward lobbying in just the third quarter of 2009, which runs from the beginning of July through the end of September. It spent about $2.3 million during the first two quarters.
“[In the first two quarters] that puts them at number one for companies that have lobbied on behalf of the medical device industry,” Levinthal said.
Medtronic — Minnesota’s 10th largest company by revenue and 18th largest employer – isn’t the only medical device maker spending money on lobbying. It is joined by St. Jude Medical of Minnesota and Boston Scientific, which is based in Massachusetts but employs more than 5,000 workers in Minnesota, making it the state’s 28th largest employer.
In the first six months of this year, St. Jude Medical spent $250,000 and Boston Scientific $930,000 for lobbying, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
In the third quarter of this year, Boston Scientific spent another $480,000 on lobbying — up from $410,000 in the third quarter of 2008.
Although United Health and Medtronic are on par with what they spent on lobbying during the first three quarters of 2008, the Center for Responsive Politics found that many of the big spenders in the health sector, including Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Pfizer, increased their lobbying efforts significantly in the second quarter of 2009 compared to the second quarter of 2008. (The center has not yet analyzed and compared third quarter reports.)
