Big Pharma Lobby Group Spent Record Amount as Reform Push Grows
- Trade association for drug makers spent $27.5 million in 2018
- Total surpasses spending during 2009 health-care reform debate
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
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The pharmaceutical industry’s leading trade group disclosed Tuesday that it had spent a record $27.5 million on lobbying in 2018, $1.4 million more than in 2009, when Congress and the White House created the Affordable Care Act, the health-care overhaul better known as Obamacare.
The surge in spending by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America came as the industry failed to win a last-minute legislative fix that would have reduced its share of outlays in a popular Medicare program, and as it prepared for what could be its most challenging year in decades.