There are six healthcare lobbyists for each member of the House and Senate, according to this report.

Health-care lobbyists said their efforts are the biggest since the successful 1986 effort to overhaul the tax code. The result is a debate involving thousands of disparate voices, forcing Congress to pick winners and losers.

“There’s a lot of money at stake and there are a lot of special interests who don’t want their ox gored,” [the Sunlight Foundation’s Bill] Allison said.