Consumer groups like Citizen Action and Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen are in the fray. Citizen Action, which wants a Canadian-style system, has an army of door-to-door canvassers and phone-bank volunteers. The group has already generated 1 million postcards to the White House.
The industry hopes to beat back price caps on premiums and head off any attempt to replace insurance companies with a government singlepayer system.
The American Medical Association has nearly 300,000 members, runs the nation’s second largest PAC and retains 17 lobbyists. Along with the American Hospital Association, the AMA is working to block limits on doctors’ fees and hospital charges.
The American Association of Retired Persons wants government to foot more of the bill for long-term care. Its 33 million members are a voting bloc that politicians listen to. The AARP has taken its case to some 30,000 gatherings.
The AFL-CIO and its 14 million members are pushing for a generous universal-benefits package and opposing taxation of employee benefits.
Trade associations representing beer, wine and tobacco want to block big tax hikes on liquor, cigarettes and guns. Their rallying cry: “sin” ’taxes penalize the poor, cost jobs and raise too little money. The Beer Institute spent $200,000 on a color-coded map showing how businesses will be affected in each congressional district.
The members of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America could lose some contingency fees if medical-malpractice reform goes through. The GOP couldn’t change the system, but a Democrat may be able to.
