Health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc. spent $650,000 lobbying the federal government in the third quarter as it focused on the health care overhaul and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act, among other topics.
That represented an 18 percent spending increase compared with 2010's third quarter and a 24 percent drop from this year's second quarter for the Minnetonka, Minn., company.
UnitedHealth is the largest health insurer based on total revenue and the second-largest based on enrollment, trailing WellPoint Inc. It also operates segments that sell wellness programs and information services, aside from commercial and government-based coverage.
Several health insurers have lobbied in recent quarters on the overhaul, which took effect last year and aims to eventually cover millions of uninsured people. That will mean new business for health insurers, but the companies also are concerned about fees and restraints the far-reaching law imposes on their industry.
UnitedHealth said in a seven-page report filed last month with the clerk of the House of Representatives that its lobbying focused on broad health care modernization related to the law.
The insurer also lobbied on the defense health system and the Budget Control Act of 2011.
Aside from Congress, UnitedHealth also lobbied the White House.
Lobbyists for the insurer included Jennifer Walsh, a former employer of the office of U.S. Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif.