Drug Industry Provides Help To Health Care Plan
Several officials say the nation’s drugmakers are willing to offer $150 million to help President Barack Obama overhaul health care this fall, The Associated Press reported.
Experts suggest it could be just what the administration needs to realize his chief domestic priority.
An effort by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America is in early campaigning stages, which includes television advertising under PhRMA’s own name and commercials aired in conjunction with the liberal group, Families USA.
Many members with knowledge of PhRMA’s plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to divulge details, revealed they had been told it would likely reach $150 million and perhaps $200 million.
Along with contributions to Healthy Economy Now, which recently completed a $12 million round of advertising nationally and in several states, the ads were made by companies with close ties to Democrats and the White House. Also, they generally reflected the administration’s changing rhetoric on health care.
"We will have a significant presence over the August recess, both on television and newspapers and on radio, but we have not finalized details for our fall campaign," said Ken Johnson, senior vice president of PhRMA.
Even though the two groups disagree on numerous issues, the partnership with the deep-pocketed drug industry is one of mutual self-interest, according to Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA.
He said they want to achieve coverage for everyone, and for PhRMA, this would improve volume for prescription sales because everyone would have better access to medicine.
Drugmakers now have an incentive to offer concessions to the White House and lawmakers in hopes of shaping a health care bill, rather than simply opposing it. Any bill that makes it to Obama’s desk is expected to extend health insurance to the nearly 50 million who now lack it — creating a huge new pool of potential customers for drug companies and other health care providers.
Drug companies announced several weeks ago that they would absorb $80 billion in costs over a decade, making them the first group to reach agreement with the White House and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont.
Several individuals said even before the announcement, the White House sought help from PhRMA in passing legislation.
The industry is now providing key support during August as Republicans work to inflict a high-profile defeat on the president.
Meanwhile, the drugmakers are counting on the White House to block efforts by House Democrats to extract more than $80 billion from their industry in the legislation.
But many Democrats in both the House and Senate oppose key goals of the drug industry. Many liberals favor the importation of prescription medicine from Canada and other countries and want the government to have authority to negotiate directly with companies for lower Medicare drug prices.
But advertising from PhRMA and other supporters of the bill has dwarfed efforts by opponents. It would be extremely difficult to match an effort of the size PhRMA is planning, according to most Republican strategists.
Healthy Economy Now has spent about $12 million on three ads that ran nationally and in 17 states and the District of Columbia, independent calculations showed.
One ad that began in mid-June said patients would be able to choose their own doctors. Another in mid-July focused on consumer protections, including a ban on insurance companies denying coverage due to pre-existing medical conditions.
GMMB, a political consulting and advocacy advertising firm with close ties to the White House and Senate Democrats, as well as AKPD, top White House strategist David Axelrod’s former firm, were employed to create the ads.
And the decisions were made by the organization, and not at the White House’s request, according to Jeremy Van Ess, a Health Economy Now.
Information compiled by a different organization said that PhRMA/Families USA spent about $5.7 million in nationwide advertising for the two months ending Aug. 9.
The drug industry also added another weapon to its arsenal two weeks ago, launching a series of ads under its own name in a few key states at a cost of about $1 million.
In recent years, drugmakers have funneled more money to Democrats, a trend that began soon after they gained control of Congress.
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