Health insurers forked over $86.2 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year to thwart health reform legislation, according to a Bloomberg report.

The news agency said that Washington-based America's Health Insurance Plans, an insurance lobby representing such heavy-hitters as UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Cigna Corp., paid the money to the Chamber at the same time the industry was asking Congress to kill a public health insurance option.

The money paid for advertisements and a grass roots campaign, a Chamber spokesman said. The funds accounted for nearly 40 percent of the group's 2009 spending, Bloomberg said.
The Chamber filed funding disclosure forms Tuesday, as required by U.S. law, indicating it received $86.2 million from a single contributor. Bloomberg said anonymous sources familiar with the transaction identified the donor as AHIP.

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