[ Report Home | Previous Page | Next Page ] Texas PACs 2000 Election Cycle Health: $3,479,717

The $3.5 million spent by 63 Health PACs in 2000 marked a 5 percent increase over 1998 spending. Health professional PACs accounted for $2.5 million of the total, with non-doctor PACs ($1.3 million) nosing out physician PACs ($1.2 million). The top non-doctor PACs were the Texas Dental Association—which wants to expand dental health insurance coverage—and the Texas Optometric PAC. Optometrists won the latest round of their battle to discourage competition from mail-order vendors of contact lenses. Senator Mike Moncrief pulled his bill to make this market more competitive in April 2001, after the near-sighted mail-order company “1-800-Contacts” tried to pack a committee hearing by offering people free limo service and plane tickets to attend.⁷

Physician PACs spent $1.2 million, led by the Texas Medical Association, ophthalmologists and anesthesiologists. Doctor and hospital PACs (the latter spent $337,149) passed a 2001 bill to make health insurers pay medical bills promptly. Insurers outgunned these medical interests by getting Governor Rick Perry to veto the bill.