Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 2, 1992 TAG: 9202020120
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: by THOMAS BOYER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
IS INFLUENCE AVAILABLE FOR HEALTH-CARE BUCKS?
The health-care industry, almost unanimously opposed to Gov. Douglas Wilder's plan to tax doctors and hospitals, gave more than $460,000 to Virginia lawmakers' 1991 campaigns.The donations were concentrated among senior legislators and members of key committees. The Senate and House of Delegates finance committees, which have life-or-death say over the heart of Wilder's health-care package, received more than one-third of the industry's contributions.
A computer analysis of campaign disclosure forms shows doctors, hospitals and other health-care providers are among the biggest campaign donors. The analysis was done by The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, newspapers in Norfolk.
Doctors - along with other medical personnel and their fund-raising committees - gave at least $157,000 to senators and $192,000 to delegates. Hospitals, nursing homes and their industry groups gave a more modest $76,000 to delegates and $38,000 to Senate campaigns.
Wilder's Secretary of Health and Human Resources, Howard Cullum, has maintained that the industry contributions put Wilder at a disadvantage trying to win General Assembly approval for the taxes and tighter regulations Wilder has proposed.
"It might lead some to question the objectivity of legislators to our proposal," Wilder press secretary Glenn Davidson said Friday. "It is the same problem that has effectively gridlocked Congress in their efforts to make any health care system reforms."
But lawmakers and industry officials say the donations won't affect the outcome, and if Wilder's package fails, it will be on its own merits.
"You can't buy a vote in Virginia," said Peg Cooning, spokeswoman for the Virginia Hospital Association, which runs a political action committee that funnels contributions from hospital employees. "You might be able to get an introduction to a legislator, but you can't buy a vote."
Del. Alson Smith Jr., D-Frederick, one of the General Assembly's top fund-raisers, said contributions wouldn't influence his vote on the package.
Wilder is trying to win approval of a 0.8 percent tax on hospital revenues, with exemptions for charity care and bad debts, and a 1 percent levy on nursing home receipts. At the same time, he's proposed levying a $200 annual fee on doctors. The taxes would raise about $30 million a year to support the state's fast-growing Medicaid program, which pays hospital and doctor bills for the poor, elderly and disabled.
Opposing the plan are the Virginia Hospital Association and the Virginia Medical Society, which represents most of the state's doctors. A smaller doctors' group, the Old Dominion Medical Society, last week endorsed Wilder's plan.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY