Key Health Care Senators Have Industry Ties

“You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” –A. Lincoln

Influential senators working to overhaul the nation’s health care system have investments and family ties with some of the biggest names in the industry. The wife of Sen. Chris Dodd, the lawmaker in charge of writing the Senate’s bill, sits on the boards of four health care companies.

Members of both parties have industry connections, including Democrats Jay Rockefeller and Tom Harkin, in addition to Dodd, and Republicans Tom Coburn, Judd Gregg, John Kyl and Orrin Hatch, financial reports showed Friday.

Jackie Clegg Dodd, wife of the Connecticut Democrat, is on the boards of Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cardiome Pharma Corp., Brookdale Senior Living and Pear Tree Pharmaceuticals.

Dodd is filling in for ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which will soon start work on a health care bill.

Otherpublicly available documents show Mrs. Dodd last year was one of themost highly compensated non-employee members of the JavelinPharmaceuticals Inc. board, on which she has served since 2004. Sheearned $32,000 in fees and $109,587 in stock option awards last year,according to the company’s SEC filings.

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2009-06-12