Today's Managing Health Care Costs Number is $880 million
The Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrityreported on pharmaceutical company lobbying at the state level earlier this week; this was to look specifically at lobbying around opiod regulation. Pharma spent $880 million over a decade - while the anti-opioid lobby spent about $4 million. The industry and allied groups have an "army of lobbyists averaging 1,350 per year covering all 50 state capitals." The report says that the opioid lobby spent eight times as much as the gun lobby for political activities over the last decade.
This matters. While the attention of the national press is on Congress and the Food and Drug Administration, most laws around prescription practice are enacted on the state level. The level of scrutiny for state governmental action is low. Few Americans know who their state legislators are -never mind whether they have voted for bills that promote excessive use of dangerous, addictive medications. One percent of local news coverage is about the state legislature.
Many state legislatures pass bills that are written by lobbyists, and pharmaceutical companies have funded "astroturf" groups like the Pain Care Forum to promote their interests, and there is even a division of the American Cancer Society (the Cancer Action Network) which has lobbied against opioid legislation in 18 states. States determine what rules pharmacies and prescribing clinicians must follow - and as of earlier this year only 16 states had mandatory prescription drug monitoring databases for physicians to use to prevent doctor shopping for narcotics.
We need more attention to state legislative and regulatory processes -and this reporting is a good start. Pharma doesn't always win - the AP report includes a sidebaron a pharma company failure to stop opioid regulations in Washington State.
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