Editor's Note: Lobbyists have spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to influence the health care debate in this country. By some counts, there were six health care lobbyists for every member of Congress. In part three of the American Morning original series, "Lobbying for Your Health," Carol Costello looks at the AARP's contentious role in the debate.

By Bob Ruff and Carol Costello

November 5, 2009. That's the day the AARP endorsed the House health care bill. With nearly 40 million members, it's not surprising that the president quickly came before cameras in the White House to thank the AARP for its endorsement.

That AARP endorsement wasn't universally applauded by all of the organization's millions of members. The organization admits it has lost 150,000 members since the endorsement but says that's been offset by more than 2-million new or renewed memberships.

Some, like Robert Tice, feel the AARP is out of touch with its members by focusing so much on selling insurance. He says he will let his AARP membership lapse without renewal because he doesn't like what they're up to.

"The letters don't mean American Association of Retired Persons," he told CNN's Carol Costello. "It just means AARP. It's just a name. ... The AARP is about insurance. People need to know that. AARP is not out there to help you."

In fact, the AARP brands several types of insurance, including health policies with United Healthcare. By endorsing so many insurance policies the organization brought in around $650 million dollars last year in premiums. That's almost three times what it took in from membership dues.

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Editor's Note: Lobbyists have spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to influence the health care debate in this country. By some counts, there were six health care lobbyists for every member of Congress. In part two of the American Morning original series, "Lobbying for Your Health," Carol Costello is taking a look at a war room built to steer the debate in their favor.

By Bob Ruff and Carol Costello

What's the difference between a getting a president elected and getting a health care reform bill passed? If you're the Service Workers International Union, the SEIU, there isn't any difference.

"Health care has been our candidate," says SEIU's President Andy Stern, "and we've been trying to win the election and we're closer than ever before."

Stern has a "war room" set up in Washington to push health care reform legislation, by the president, now working its way through the Congress. Nationally, there are 400 full time employees making calls to voters, organizing field workers, dispatching lobbyists to congressional offices, and working the media.

On a frigid December morning we found SEIU members chanting outside the Brooklyn, NY field office of Democratic Congressman Michael McMahon, who voted against the House health care bill. For nearly an hour they chanted: "What do we want? Health care! When do we want it? Now!"

In Connecticut, scores of SEIU workers worked the phones urging people to challenge Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to stop blocking health care reform. And in Pittsburgh, SEIU worker Georgeann Koehler, whose brother died without health insurance, went door-to-door urging residents to sign cards supporting health care reform. She's taking those cards "to Washington, DC and as far up on the ladder as I can get, because our congressmen have to know that people in this country need it."

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Editor's Note: Health care reform is big business in Washington and it's made for some strange bedfellows. Groups you'd never expect are teaming up both for and against the bill. In part one of this American Morning original series, Carol Costello keeps tabs on who is "Lobbying for Your Health."

By Bob Ruff and Carol Costello

Imagine that you are playing a word association game and someone says the word "lobbyist." What's the first word that might come to your mind?

The word "crook," as in convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff might be a bit too harsh, but for many people the word they'd choose wouldn't be very flattering. And that's one reason why Congress over the years has passed legislation seeking to shine light on how lobbyists influence congressmen and legislation.

The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 was followed by the "Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007." These laws attempted to throw light on the federal lobbying process, including the requirement that lobbyists register quarterly with the House and Senate.

All of which brings us to the current health care bills that have attracted Washington lobbyists like moths to a light bulb. How many lobbyists?

The Center for Responsive Politics says 951 firms and organizations registered to lobby just the House version of the bill. The group, which tracks campaign contributions and lobbying dollars, counted more than 3,000 individual lobbyists who have spent at least $400 million dollars lobbying Congress on health care reform.

We looked at the list of 951 and were not surprised by organizations that you would expect to lobby a health bill, such as United Health, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and the American Hospital Association.

But, we were so curious about why some other very unlikely groups were so interested in health care legislation that we asked some of them.

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