After the Obama administration unveiled a proposal to overhaul Medicare Part B four months ago, a large number of lawmakers quickly and very vocally opposed the effort. Now, a new analysis finds that drug makers, who are worried the plan will cut into their revenue, have given them considerably more financial support than lawmakers who have not raised objections.
Specifically, 310 lawmakers who either signed two letters opposing the overhaul or were critical of it received a total of more than $7.2 million from pharmaceutical and health products companies for their 2016 campaigns, according to the analysis by Public Citizen, the consumer advocacy group, which released its analysis on Monday. And the amount given to each representative averaged more than $23,300 (read the letters here and here).
By comparison, there were 124 rank-and-file lawmakers — 117 Democrats and seven Republicans — who did not sign either letter and received a combined total of nearly $1.6 million from the same industry for their 2016 campaigns. They averaged more than $12,700. The consumer group analyzed data from the Center for Responsive Politics and the Federal Election Commission.
About the Author Reprints
As long as Lawmakers are allowed to accept conflict of interest monetary funding from Drug companies, this type of nonsense will continue.
Politicians were elected to serve the interest of their constituents but can be bought.
Time to be picky: it’s a great picture, but those are blood samplers, not syringes for injection….