Healthcare lobbying expenditures have nearly doubled since 2000. According to JAMA Network, an American Medical Association-published journal, firms invested over $713 million in medical lobbying in 2020. Twenty years prior, they spent just over $358 million lobbying for private medical care. Additionally, most of the money came from the top 10% of firms. Here’s everything you need to know about the growth of private healthcare lobbying since the turn of the millennium.
Big pharma spends the most on healthcare lobbying.
In 2020, pharmaceutical manufacturers spent over $308 million on lobbying activities, according to JAMA Network. Additionally, private healthcare providers spend nearly $290 million. These two sectors combined make up over 70% of the money spent on lobbying for private healthcare. Payers, also known as insurance providers, spent about $80.6 million.
According to OpenSecrets, a non-profit that tracks lobbying finances, the pharmaceutical industry spends more than any other sector by far. In 2022, big pharma spent well over $280 million on lobbyists. Although the year prior, in 2021, the sector spent over $361 million. Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America spent nearly $22.4 million on federal lobbying in 2022. Almost double that of Pfizer, the second-highest spender in the sector.
For comparison, in 2022, electronics manufacturers, also known as big tech, spent the second-most, about $162 million. Oracle spent just over $9 million on federal lobbying, the highest of any electronics manufacturer. And Microsoft, the second-highest, spent about $7.25 million. Pharmaceutical companies spent nearly $120 million more than the next-highest spending sector in the United States this year alone.
As mentioned, the pharmaceutical industry is by far the top spender on federal lobbying. However, private insurance companies, health services companies, and the hospital industry are all in the top ten in 2022. Insurance rings in at the third-most spent, and health services and hospitals dropped the ninth and tenth-most.
