Top Health Care Companies Spent More Than Half Million On Congressional Trips

Over the past eight years, some of the largest and most politically active pharmaceutical and health care companies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on private trips for members of Congress and their staffs.

All of the trips were described as fact-finding missions, designed to put legislators and their aides in touch with the issues they handle and people they represent. But others have interpreted them far more skeptically -- as the equivalent of out-of-session lobbying, where industry executives cozy up with policy makers in fancy and exotic locales. The pharmaceutical and private health care industries have been some of the most active financiers of these excursions.

A review of hundreds of public documents by the Huffington Post shows that from 2000 through 2008 the top 20 most active companies in these fields sponsored 192 trips worth more than $380,000 for dozens of politicians and staff. The list of those companies -- as determined by campaign contributions in the last election cycle -- include industry giants such as Pfizer, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, and Merck & Co.


[I am sure that is nothing to be worried about.]