Managed care company Cigna Corp. more than doubled its spending on federal government lobbying in the second quarter, as it focused on health care reform, Medicare prescription drug programs and other issues. The Philadelphia insurer spent $560,000 in this year's April-to-June period, up from $260,000 in the same quarter last year, according to reports filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The total also represented an increase from the $400,000 Cigna spent in the first quarter of this year. Cigna lobbied on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the health care reform law Congress passed in March that aims to eventually provide coverage for millions of uninsured people. It lobbied on the taxation of employer-provided health benefits and "implementation issues" for the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D prescription drug programs, according to the five-page report.
