Lobbyists Are Health Reform Winners

The biggest winners, based on number of lobbying clients, from healthcare reform include:

• Patton Boggs LLP – $7.6 million


• Alston & Bird LLP – $4.6 million


• Foley Hoag LLP – $4 million


• Podesta Group Inc. – $5.1 million


• Capital Tax Partners LLP – $3.8 million


• Holland & Knight LLP – $2.8 million


• Dutko Worldwide LLC – $3.7 million

The clients who hired these firms ranged from industry associations like the American Hospital Association, America's Health Insurance Plans, the American Medical Association, and AARP, to small nonprofit advocacy groups. Some hired more than one of the top firms to lobby for their interests.

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America hired Capital Tax Partners, Dutko, Mehlman, and 22 other outside firms, in addition to the group's own in-house lobbyists. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. hired Patton Boggs, Podesta Group, Mehlman, and Bryan Cave, according to CPI.

Some of the more notable lobbyist-insiders include Thomas Scully, a CMS administrator under President George W. Bush; and Colette Desmarais, a former health policy aide to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, CPI added.

All lobbying for all topics—from missile defense to trans-fats—topped out at $3.47 billion last  year, which was a record. "That was $20 million a day in 2009," Buzenberg says.