Ever wonder why health care policy hasn't changed much in close to 40 years? One big reason is the amount of money the big pharmaceutical companies pour into Washington each year, into the pockets of politicians like John McCain, to maintain the status quo or to win new benefits for them.
A new report by the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) released late last month indicates that the drug lobby, which includes corporations and organizations affiliated with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and the Advanced Medical Technology Association, spent over $1 billion on lobbying activities on Capitol Hill over the last decade.
Public documents show that in 2007 alone, cash from the drug lobby jumped 32 percent over 2006 to $168 million.
CPI Executive Director Bill Buzenberg described the pharmaceutical industry as largest lobby in Washington. "The central point," he noted, "is that their massive spending has been highly successful, largely producing the political results the drug industry wants."
According to the CPI, the pharmaceutical industry sought and won key health care policy, mostly through Senate filibusters by Republicans and upholding presidential vetoes of key reforms. These included blocking the importation of drugs to reduce the costs of pharmaceuticals for low-income families, extending pharmaceutical patents to prevent lower cost generics from entering the market, putting US drugs into international free trade agreements to ensure greater access in overseas markets, and preventing Congress from limiting direct-to-consumer ads, which have been criticized for risking patients' health by moving the conversation about health into the market place.
The companies that spent the most included Amgen Inc., which bought off politicians to the tune of $16.2 million, followed by Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, at $13.8 million. Other top drug company spenders included Roche Holding AG ($9 million), Sanofi-aventis ($8.4 million), GlaxoSmithKline ($8.2 million), and Johnson & Johnson Inc. ($7.7 million).
For their part, Democratic leaders in Congress sought greater oversight of the pharmaceutical industry and attempted to hand more regulatory power to the Food and Drug Administration. They also made efforts to revise the Bush-Republican Medicare Prescription Drug Act of 2003, which is considered to have handed huge financial subsidies to the drug industry and other health care industries while reducing benefits for Medicare recipients.
Without larger Democratic majorities and a stronger progressive presence in Congress along with a vocal and influential movement to hold them accountable, the Democrats could too fall prey to the gobs of cash pharmaceutical corporations are willing to throw around to put profits before health care needs.
Republican presidential nominee John McCain, whose campaign is staffed by several top lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry, has promised to block universal health care, opposed reforms that would have reduced the cost of drugs, and supports privatizing Medicare and cutting its benefits in order to pay for the war in Iraq.
