(CNN) - Congress may have officially taken the month off, but August was the busiest month yet for health care ads designed to sway their votes, according to a new report from Campaign Media Analysis Group.
Organizations across the ideological spectrum spent more than $20 million to air a combined total of 34,000 ads across the country last month specifically dealing with the efforts of President Obama and congressional Democrats to reform the nation's health care system.
The ads target or promote nearly every player in the health care debate, including the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, special interest groups, congressional Democrats, and President Obama himself.
The group says 13,000 of the spots - totaling $6.6 million - specifically target big insurance companies for rising costs and massive profits, implicitly supporting the Democratic reform efforts. Liberal and Democratic-supporting groups including MoveOn.org, Americans United for Change, and AFSCME have also spent millions on ads supporting the party's efforts, and attacking Republicans for unwillingness to support the reforms.
On the other side of the debate, the United States Chamber of Commerce has spent close to $6 million on one ad alone denouncing the reforms and arguing the changes will lead to massive deficit increases. A string of GOP and conservative organizations, including the Republican National Committee, various state Republican parties, the Club for Growth, and the League of American Voters, have also aired ads critical of the health care reform plan .
Close to $60 million has been spent on health care ads since the beginning of the summer.
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From CNN Politics
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I love the Chamber of commerce and the Republican party, I would send them a donation but I am broke paying for health issues.
Stimulus spending is bogged down and not so effective. Mortgage program spending running well behind schedule. Cash for clunkers very slow in delivering rebate checks to auto dealers.
Somehow, this doesn't make me want to trust my health care to the government. Yes, reform is needed – but the government has been shown time and time again not to be capable of handling a large program.
It seems to me that the ones most opposed to Health Care Reform are those who already have adequate care.
The fastest way to get reform is to suspend ALL health care for members of Congress until they get the job done