Congressional Voting Behavior on Hospital Legislation: An Exploratory Study

Abstract
This paper analyzes Congressional voting behavior on the Gephardt Amendment to President Carter's hospital cost containment legislation. The impact of opposing interest groups is examined: on one side were hospital and medical interest groups; on the other was the Carter Administration and its political party, as well as states with large Medicaid expenditures. The effect of political contributions from MEDPACs is evaluated, and the relative importance of various factors affecting the vote's outcome is analyzed.