On Monday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) released an attack ad against targeted to voters in New Jersey's 7th congressional district titled "What Does It Say." The ad attacks Republican Tom Kean Jr. (pictured right), the State Senate's minority leader looking to unseat incumbent Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski (pictured left), for voting "against a plan to provide affordable health care and [opposing] protecting coverage for pre-existing conditions," as well as supporting a lawsuit that "would take away health care for millions." The ad also mentions that "Kean's campaigns took nearly $1 million from the health and insurance industries."
Despite the criticisms the DCCC levies in this ad against Kean, they themselves have also raked in a hefty amount of campaign contributions from health insurance companies. As reported by Mitchell Schnurman of The Dallas Morning News:
"Health insurance companies are racking up big profits during the pandemic, sometimes two to three times higher than a year ago. That’s largely because so many customers are putting off their usual care.
"Elective surgeries, office visits and even trips to the emergency room have dropped sharply, which means fewer claims on insurance plans.
"Four insurers — UnitedHealthcare, Anthem, CVS Health and Humana — together reported almost $10 billion in profit growth for the second quarter. Collectively, their operating income rose 152%."
The aforementioned insurance companies have contributed a total of $135,000 in PAC money to the DCCC throughout the 2020 election cycle. Respectively, their PACs have contributed $30,000, $60,000, $30,000, and $15,000 to the committee.
In addition, the DCCC has taken an even greater deal of money, $185,500 in total, from lobbyists for these companies -- namely Steven Elmendorf (UnitedHealth Group), Thomas J. O'Donnell (UnitedHealth Group), David R. Thomas (Humana), Stacey Alexander (UnitedHealth Group), Jimmy Ryan (UnitedHealth Group), Shanti Ochs Stanton (UnitedHealth Group), Arshi Siddiqui (CVS Health), Lori Denham (CVS Health), Sarah Kuehl Egge (UnitedHealth Group), Lisa Kountoupes (CVS Health), Leonard Bickwit Jr. (CVS Health), Izzy Klein (CVS Health), Earl Pomeroy (UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health), Bob Siggins (UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health), Lauren Aronson (Humana), Paul Thornell (Humana), Christina Hamilton (UnitedHealth Group), and Steven Haro (Humana).
In spite of these donations to the DCCC, the committee closes the ad by claiming that Kean's donations from the industry, coupled with his aforementioned positions on the issue of health care, tell voters in the 7th district "everything [they] need to know."
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