Will the Senate millionaires club enact health care reform?

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According to a new study from the Center for Responsive Politics, Congress is teeming with millionaires. 44% of those who are serving on Capitol Hill meet that lofty standard. In the Senate, where the fate of health care reform now rests, the average net worth of members is $1,790,000.00. These people are well off, by and large, and have great health care provided their employers (the U.S. taxpayer).

What’s more, CRP found that the wealthy members of Congress (both Democrats and Republicans) own stock in such companies as Pfizer and Merck, who are lobbying against health reform, and who have, in many cases, donated large sums of money to help get these Congressional millionaires elected in the first place.

Less than 1% of the American population can be counted as millionaires. One out of three Americans went without health insurance for a period of time over the past two years. The U.S. Census Bureau says that 46.3 million citizens in our country have no insurance whatsoever. In 2009, health care spending in the U.S. is expected to reach $2.9 trillion, or 17% of GDP. Employers are struggling to cover rising costs.

But some in the Senate are worried about what they see as a redistribution of wealth, just as Senators of generations past worried the same about Medicare and Social Security while trying to protect their own financial interests. That’s not to say that one’s net worth and investment portfolio and campaign donors are iron clad predictors of future voting trends, but according to CRP those in the House who voted against reform received 15% more in contributions from the industry than those who didn’t. Watching the antics of some in Congress during this process certainly hasn’t eased these fears much, either.