Follow the Money: Health-care industry spent more than $740,000 on legislators through last election [View all]

Follow the Money: Health-care industry spent more than $740,000 on legislators through last election cycle


With health care once again looming as one of the Legislature’s most complex — and sometimes most controversial — policy quagmires in 2019, the powerful industry didn’t hesitate to open up the pocketbooks for lawmakers during the last election cycle.

In the 2018 campaign, health-care companies, insurers and doctors combined to spend $744,000 on legislators, good for nearly 7 percent of the $11.7 million spent.

It marks a dip in spending compared to the 2016 cycle, when the industry doled out more than $900,000 to legislative campaigns and political action committees — a decrease of about 19 percent — even as campaign contributions rose overall.

But much like 2016, the biggest spenders were led by Sunrise Health Care System, which contributed more than $162,000 across 47 legislators. Other major contributors include health insurer Anthem ($80,000), UnitedHealth Group ($42,000), the Nevada Dental Association ($36,000) and the Nevada Hospital Association’s Nevada Health PAC ($35,000).

Read more: https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/follow-the-money-health-care-industry-spent-more-than-740000-on-legislators-through-last-election-cycle