My friend was trying to
prove that it is never too late to get interested and involved in
politics. Ralph (name changed) finally
got excited about a political candidate and donated money to the campaign. How much?
Let’s just say it was a lot of money to him. And when the candidate won, Ralph expected to
be recognized, thanked, and mentioned on the Congressional website. Ralph was now a
Player, at least in his own mind.
An individual was allowed
to contribute
up to $2,800 to a particular Congressional candidate per election
in 2020. Ralph was nowhere near that
amount, but even if he was, Congressional campaigns raise and spend millions of
dollars. He contributed less than 1/10
of 1% of what his candidate spent. I’m
sure that Ralph and his donation were momentarily appreciated by whoever
processed the check before he/she opened the next envelope.
To put this into
perspective, let’s look at what the pharmaceutical industry (Big Pharma)
donated to Ohio politicians in 2020. The
Columbus Dispatch and the website Lobbyists
for Citizens are the source of this information. It was noted that Ohio politicians,
Republicans and Democrats, received over $250,000 in the 2020 election cycle
from Big Pharma. To no one’s surprise,
the top recipient, even though he wasn’t up for reelection, was Rob
Portman. Here are the numbers:
US Senators
·
Rob Portman -
$65,000
·
Sherrod Brown -
$0
US House
·
Brad Wenstrup –
$64,000
·
Bob Latte – $41,000
·
Steve Stivers –
$26,000
·
Jim Jordan – $15,000
·
Bill Johnson –
$14,500
·
Marcia Fudge –
$11,500
·
Joyce Beatty –
$7,500
·
Tim Ryan – $4,000
·
Steve Chabot –
$2,500
·
Anthony Gonzalez
– $2,000
·
Troy Balderson –
$1,000
·
Bob Gibbs –
$1,000
I showed this to Ralph and
had him look at Senator Portman’s website.
Big Pharma isn’t mentioned or thanked.
Portman has found other ways to thank them and earn their favor. Our political donations are whispering while
the real money, the PAC money is shouting.
Prescription Drug prices
have spiraled out of control for years.
The creation of Medicare Part D in 2003 was a license to print
money. Every couple of years Washington
flirts with the concept of regaining control.
Success is hardly guaranteed.
A quick bit of
history: Medicare Part D specifically
prohibits the government (the Secretary of Health and Human Services) from
negotiating with the drug manufacturers over price. This is called the “noninterference
clause”. My clients are
still surprised by this. What is not
surprising is that the Congressman who co-authored the legislation, Billy Tauzin (R-La)
was also negotiating with Big Pharma to become their top lobbyist at a salary
of $2 million per year. He had that job
from 2004 through 2010. We continue to
be impacted by his efforts to this very day.
Congress, or at least some
members of Congress, would like to eliminate the noninterference clause. As you can imagine, Big Pharma is not
happy. They have two tools (weapons) at
their disposal, money and emotion. We
know that the money is flowing to elected officials. Emotion and fear are on full view on our TV
screens. By now you have been introduced
to Sue from Ohio, an ad that the Washington
Post rated 3 Pinocchios. There will be more Sue’s and more misleading
BS.
Will we, the consumers,
win this time or will Big Pharma win again?
It is way too early to tell. There
is legislation pending that may pass as currently written, be watered down to
irrelevance, or just defeated by filibuster in the Senate. You can contact your Congressman and/or
Senator. But it is important to remember that you may donate what seems to you
a lot of money, but it is, in truth, but a whisper.
DAVE
www.cunixinsurance.com
Picture – Take One Daily – David L Cunix
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