The First Amendment and Interest Groups

The First Amendment holds that there should not be a law that prohibits freedom of speech, free exercise, press, or peaceful assembling. The First Amendment guarantees our right to free speech, peaceful assembly, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances, which is essentially a Constitutional right to form interest groups and work collectively to influence public policy. Basing on the requirements of the first amendment, this essay seeks to provide a review of Kaiser Permanente Lobbying, which is an interest group based in the USA.

Kaiser Permanente Lobbying

Kaiser Permanente is the largest health care group in the United States. It has been at the forefront when it comes to lobbying for and against a number of healthcare policies for many years both at the state and federal levels. The group has contributed a total of $26 billion since its establishment in 1995. In the 2017-2018 financial year, the group came fifth in terms of total contribution to the Congress after reaching the $1-billion mark with a whopping $1,052,866 (Open Secrets, n.p). Most of Kaiser’s contributions go to Democrats, even though it also contributes to Republican legislators. Among the beneficiaries of Kaiser’s contributions in the past have been those Democrats who support bills and policies that are aimed at bringing about health reforms. As a strong advocate for quality health care services and an improved health care delivery system, Kaiser hopes that its contributions to lobbyists will help to push agendas that will ensure health reforms are realized.

Given that such health reforms plan to cover all citizens, coordinated care, and focus on evidence-based practice, and use of technology in healthcare to support its healthcare delivery model, the organization feels obliged to have a hand in health reform bills and policies. According to Amy Thoma the organization’s spokeswoman, Kaiser Permanente is a health plan, a hospital system, and a care-delivery organization (Robertson par.6). As such, the organization participates in a wide range of health care delivery services that are influenced or affected by almost every health bill or policy at the state and federal levels. It stands to gain from good policies that will help it realize its mission and vision. It also stands to lose from those policies that hardly support its objectives as a health plan, a hospital system, and a care-delivery organization. Since it is a not-for-profit entity too, Kaiser is also keen on how certain policies will impact its bottom line. With such vested interests, the healthcare organization has no option in but to try to influence the direction health bills and policies take.

Works cited

Politics, The. “Lobbying Spending Database – Kaiser Permanente, 2018 |Opensecrets”. Opensecrets.Org, 2019, https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000034986&year=2018.

Robertson, Mrs. E. Robertson. 2014.