Bloomberg: HEALTH CARE BRIEFING: Industry Lobbying Slowed During Pandemic
Drugmakers and hospital groups slowed their lobbying spending as the coronavirus spread across the U.S., according to the latest federal lobbying disclosures.
Both the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association spent less on lobbying in the second quarter of 2020 than they did in same quarter for 2019. The AHA spent $4.3 million from April through June, a decrease from the $4.9 million during the same period the year before. The AMA spent $3.8 million, less than the $4.7 million a year earlier.
Similarly, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the drug industry’s lead lobbying group, spent $5.4 million in the second quarter of 2020, down from $6.2 million during the same time in 2019.
The lobbying spending of these healthcare groups during the second quarter, which corresponds with the height of the coronavirus lockdowns, also dipped from the amount spent on lobbying during the first three months of 2020, when the AHA spent $5.9 million, the AMA spent $6.6 million, and PhRMA spent $9 million.
All three groups have been spending more on lobbying in recent years: PhRMA posted a record year in 2019, spending nearly $29 million, and the AHA hit a three-year high last year at $21.7 million. The AMA’s annual spending has only slightly fluctuated, but increased almost $300,000 from 2018 to 2019 to reach more than $20 million for that year.
Drugmakers successfully fended off attempts to attach a provision capping the cost of new vaccines or drugs to treat Covid-19 to all the coronavirus-relief packages passed by Congress this year. Hospitals and doctors received $175 billion in relief funds from those packages.
However, the current economic downturn has hit hospitals and doctor’s practices harder than previous slowdowns. The health industry has shed millions of jobs as hospitals have been forced to stop offering lucrative elective procedures as they deal with the spreading virus, Alex Ruoff and Megan Wilson report.
On Lawmakers’ Radars
Seven-Bill Spending Minibus Set for Next Week: The House Appropriations Committee introduced a summary of its second package of spending bills (H.R. 7617), which will be considered on the chamber floor next week. The minibus includes funding for programs under the Health and Human Services Department. Read the committee summary here.
Funding for Vaccines, Opening Schools: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the next round of coronavirus aid will center on measures to get children returned to schools and workers back into jobs, as well as develop vaccines to blunt the pandemic. Mnuchin and President Donald Trump met yesterday with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) at the White House.
The focus of the next phase of aid will be “kids and jobs and vaccines,” Mnuchin, who will have a central role in negotiations, told reporters. Along with funds still untapped from previous rounds of relief, Republicans are “starting with another trillion dollars. We think that will make a big impact,” he added. Read more from Laura Litvan and Erik Wasson.
Still, some Republicans were bristling at White House resistance to including a $25 billion initiative to help states with coronavirus testing and contact tracing. “I just think that’s wrong,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of the GOP leadership. “If you’re going to get people back to school and back to work, having those kinds of tests are really important.”
He indicated that the administration also doesn’t agree with proposals for funding to distribute a vaccine. “The other thing they’ve questioned is money to distribute the vaccines,” Blunt said. “The vaccine is not very good if it’s not properly distributed.” Read more from Laura Litvan Erik Wasson.
- Meanwhile, the leaders of the New Democrat Coalition, one of the largest caucuses in the House, said new funding for Covid-19 testing and contact tracing are a “redline” for them in the next pandemic measure. Chairman Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) said that the coalition wants a national testing and tracing strategy as well as money to see it through in the next package, Alex Ruoff reports.
- Members of the group are also demanding the package carry a provision creating a special enrollment period for both Medicare and Obamacare’s individual marketplaces. They also want to tie expanded federal funding for Medicaid to certain economic metrics, which would keep in place the new money to states potentially beyond the pandemic if the economy doesn’t rebound by then, Ruoff reports.
By: Brandon Lee, Alex Ruoff, & Megan R.
Source: Bloomberg
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