Major pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. continue to spend millions of dollars trying to defeat a law that forces them to sell their drugs to rural areas at cheaper, more affordable rates. These drugs are very important and many people do not have access to them. The pharmaceutical companies have spent millions of dollars to fight rules and regulations.
Axios has been analyzing how much money different big influence operations spent in Washington D.C. on lobbying in the last quarter. It turns out that just one Big Pharma group spent over $10 million in the healthcare industry. This was $2.3 more than the second-largest trade group and $1.6 more than what the same Pharma group — PhRMA in fact — spent in the first three months of 2023.
Check out this Axios graphic:
You should be concerned about this for a few reasons.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Big Pharma has been at odds with conservatives on almost every issue.
Second: You can see on PhRMA’s website that after pandemic preparedness, PhRMA’s second biggest lobbying priority is to kill off the 340B Drug Discount Program, which benefits rural and working-class Americans, i.e. conservatives, and which red state legislators like Louisiana, Arkansas Kansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia are trying to protect.
Since the summer of 2020, pharmaceutical companies that continue to make multi-billion-dollar profits have declared that they will only offer discounts under certain circumstances. The move was made at a time when these large corporations were aligning themselves more and more with progressives who supported policies such as vaccine mandates or hormonal interventions which benefited the bottom line of the companies.
The COVID-19 vaccine was mandatory back then, and hormone therapy is highly encouraged for children today. Big Pharma is on your side.
Many Democrats are working to advance the interests of pharmaceutical companies at the expense and rural Americans. Many Democrats sit in boardrooms as Americans struggle to obtain much-needed medications.
Another Senate “gang” has been considering “reforms” to that program. The Gang of Six is a group of six senators, including Republican Thune, Moran, and Moore Capito, (two of their states have taken steps to protect 340B), as well as Democratic Senators Baldwin, and Cardin.
As we wait to see what the new Senate group comes up with, it’s worth keeping in mind this big lobbying figure as well as Big Pharma’s geographical footprint and where they have taken action to protect 340B. In D.C. money continues to speak a lot louder than it should. The Democrats are too eager to criticize major corporations while doing the bidding for our biggest pharmaceutical companies. They should perhaps focus on the turmoil within their party rather than trying to screw over hardworking Americans.
