If you’re running for federal office, being a doctor could give you a leg up.
Currently, there are 20 medical doctors in Congress, a number that has doubled over the past decade, according to a recent New York Times report. They come from all sorts of disciplines, from family medicine to ophthalmology to general surgery. But they all have one thing in common: every doctor received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions in past elections from physicians and others working in healthcare, as well as their trade groups.
Health professionals — including dozens of groups like the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Hospital Association — were the number one source of campaign donations in the 2012 elections for 13 of the 20 doctors now in Congress. For six of the other seven, the industry was either the second- or third-largest source of campaign cash.
The idea of tapping the bank accounts of those in one’s former line of work isn’t uncommon, but the health professionals grouping is notable for the number of donations.
Health professionals have dozens of groups representing certain types of doctors, nurses, or others. Each of them often gives the same amount to each doctor in Congress, regardless of party, most in the $5,000 to $15,000 range. That may not seem like that much, but when all of the organizations’ contributions are combined, with each group supporting nearly every doctor in Congress, the numbers add up quickly.
For example, take Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.). In the 2012 election, Broun, who served as a family physician for 40 years, spent only about $1.3 million. Broun’s largest campaign and leadership PAC contributions were $25,000 and $20,000, from the PACs and employees of Whitaker Oil and Koch Industries, respectively.
But the largest portion of Broun’s money came from the employees and PACs of health professionals’ organizations. These ranged from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, which gave $10,000, to the American Academy of Otolaryngology, which gave $2,500. In total, 20 similar health organizations gave Broun anywhere from $2,500 to $10,000. It added up to more than $140,000 for Broun’s campaign and leadership PAC.
For other candidates, the sums can be even larger. Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.), who worked as a heart surgeon for 14 years, received more from physicians and other health professionals than all but two other House members in the 2012 cycle. Boustany’s total came to almost $492,000, nearly 10 percent of his overall haul. Other major recipients for the cycle included Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), who received almost $577,000, and Sen. John A. Barrasso (R-Wy.), who received more than $978,000.
Health professionals were the second-largest source of funds for the former ophthalmologist and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in the 2010 cycle, when he last ran, and the top industry donor to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) over the course of his Senate career. Coburn, previously a family practitioner, is retiring at the end of this year due to illness.
Already in the first half of the 2014 election cycle, this industry ranks fourth in its giving to current members of Congress at $15.3 million — behind only lawyers and law firms, the expansive “retired” category and the famously deep-pocketed securities and investment industry.
Doctors themselves have tended to lean to the right, perhaps because they are independent small business owners: The vast majority of the physicians in Congress are Republicans. Contributions from health professionals show a somewhat milder form of that partisan tilt — so far this cycle, about 61 percent of their giving has gone to GOP lawmakers, and in the 2012 cycle, it was similar.
There are just four Democratic doctors in Congress, and they seem to do about as well with this industry as their GOP doctor colleagues. Of the nearly $1.4 million that Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) has raised so far in the 2014 cycle, for instance, almost 9 percent comes from health professionals. His home-state House colleague, Raul Ruiz, can thank sources in the same industry for nearly 13 percent of his campaign contributions for this year’s race.
Follow Robbie on Twitter at @robbiefeinberg
Image: Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) at the 2013 Liberty Political Action Conference (Flickr/Gage Skidmore)
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