Kaiser Health News
Jay Hancock December 19, 2017
Facing bipartisan hostility over high drug prices in an election year, the pharma industry’s biggest trade group boosted revenue by nearly a fourth last year and spread the millions collected among hundreds of lobbyists, politicians and patient groups, new filings show.
It was the biggest surge for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, since the group took battle stations to advance its interests in 2009 during the run-up to the Affordable Care Act.
“Does that surprise you?” said Billy Tauzin, the former PhRMA CEO who ran the organization a decade ago as Obamacare loomed. Whenever Washington seems interested in limiting drug prices, he said, “PhRMA has always responded by increasing its resources.”
The group, already one of the most powerful trade organizations in any industry, collected $271 million in member dues and other income in 2016. That was up from $220 million the year before, according to its latest disclosure with the Internal Revenue Service.
PhRMA spent $7 million last year to prepare its ubiquitous “Go Boldly” ad campaign and gave millions to politicians who were up for election in both parties in dozens of states. It lavished more than $2 million on scores of groups representing patients with various diseases — many of them dealing with high drug costs.
Some of the biggest patient-group checks went to the American Autoimmune Related Disease Association, for $260,000; the American Lung Association, for $110,000; the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, for $136,150; and the Lupus Foundation of America, for $253,500.
PhRMA also gave big money to national political groups financing congressional, presidential and state candidates. The conservative-leaning American Action Network got $6.1 million. The Republican Governors Association got $301,375. Its Democratic counterpart got $350,000.
PhRMA’s state and federal lobbying spending rose by more than two-thirds from the previous year, to $57 million.
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Thank You Mr Hancock and KHN
Showing posts with label Drug Discounts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drug Discounts. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Friday, May 26, 2017
California Public Employee Union Pensions Are Huge Hypocrites On Drug Prices
redstate
Posted at 1:00 pm on May 26, 2017 by Dan Spencer
Two huge California public employee union pension programs are trying to eat their cake and profit from it too. They are helping to make a stink out of drug prices, even as those same drug prices are helping to prop up their members’ retirements.
CalPERS and CalSTRS are available to public employees and public school teachers respectively. The pension systems are active members of the National Coalition on Health Care, which runs the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing. That’s significant because NCHC, lead by former AARP heavy John Rother, has been hammering pharmaceutical companies over drug prices.
For instance, after President Donald J. Trump met with the heads of some drug companies, the coalition released a statement charging that “100% of Big Pharma’s earnings growth in 2016 came from price hikes rather than innovation.”
We could quibble about the substance of what NCHC puts out, but it’s worth asking what the California Public employees pension programs are doing as part of that coalition, given their investments.
CalPERS an CalSTERS actively profit off the drug companies that Rother and the Coalition attack. You don’t have to take my word for it, here are some numbers!
As Of June 30, 2016 CalPERS held at least $2.7 billion – with a b – worth of domestic equities in drug companies.
(CalPERS 2015-16 Annual Investment Report)
Same date, same year, CalSTRS held at least $3.2 billion in domestic equities in those same drug companies.
(CalSTRS Domestic Equities)
These public employee union investments are what Al Gore might call an inconvenient truth and most of us would just call rank hypocrisy. Here’s a suggestion for those California public employee pension funds who are trying to have it both ways: Remove that plank from your own eye first. Or just send NCHC packing.
Thank You Mr Spencer and Redstate.
Posted at 1:00 pm on May 26, 2017 by Dan Spencer
Two huge California public employee union pension programs are trying to eat their cake and profit from it too. They are helping to make a stink out of drug prices, even as those same drug prices are helping to prop up their members’ retirements.
CalPERS and CalSTRS are available to public employees and public school teachers respectively. The pension systems are active members of the National Coalition on Health Care, which runs the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing. That’s significant because NCHC, lead by former AARP heavy John Rother, has been hammering pharmaceutical companies over drug prices.
For instance, after President Donald J. Trump met with the heads of some drug companies, the coalition released a statement charging that “100% of Big Pharma’s earnings growth in 2016 came from price hikes rather than innovation.”
We could quibble about the substance of what NCHC puts out, but it’s worth asking what the California Public employees pension programs are doing as part of that coalition, given their investments.
CalPERS an CalSTERS actively profit off the drug companies that Rother and the Coalition attack. You don’t have to take my word for it, here are some numbers!
As Of June 30, 2016 CalPERS held at least $2.7 billion – with a b – worth of domestic equities in drug companies.
| Shares | Market Value | |
| Johnson & Johnson | 8091344 | $981,479,966 |
| Pfizer | 19395322 | $682,909,280 |
| Gilead Sciences | 4036451 | $336,720,740 |
| Abbvie | 4,738,959 | $293,388,976 |
| Allergan | 1127412 | $260,533,621 |
| Abbott Laboratories | 4,208,253 | $165,426,422 |
| GlaxoSmithKline | 404298 | $17,522,275 |
| Total | $2,737,981,280 |
Same date, same year, CalSTRS held at least $3.2 billion in domestic equities in those same drug companies.
| Shares | Market Value | ||
| Johnson & Johnson | 8300271 | $1,006,823,000 | |
| Pfizer | 18339819 | $645,745,000 | |
| Merck | 8955425 | $515,922,000 | |
| Bristol Myers Squibb | 4782642 | $351,763,000 | |
| Abbvie | 4335014 | $268,381,000 | |
| Celgene | 2353188 | $232,095,000 | |
| Abbott Laboratories | 4569519 | $179,628,000 | |
| Gilead Sciences | 3886475 | $324,210 | |
| Total | $3,200,681,210 |
These public employee union investments are what Al Gore might call an inconvenient truth and most of us would just call rank hypocrisy. Here’s a suggestion for those California public employee pension funds who are trying to have it both ways: Remove that plank from your own eye first. Or just send NCHC packing.
Thank You Mr Spencer and Redstate.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Do Drug Discount Savings Go To Hospital CEO Bonuses?
FierceHealthcare has;
Do Drug Discount Savings Go To Hospital CEO Bonuses?June 24, 2013 | By Ayesha Kravetz
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who has been closely investigating nonprofit abuses, expressed worries about the generous bonuses CEOs receive from hospitals that benefit from a federal discount drug program designed to aid poor and uninsured patients, reported the Charlotte Observer.
Grassley fears some hospitals are receiving large profits from the 340B program at the expense of Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance, the senator announced last week.
His reaction arose from a recent report by Kaiser Health News and ABC News that highlighted how bonuses for nonprofit hospital executives valued financial performance over quality of care.
The KHN report exposed dramatic examples of revenue-driven bonuses, including Michael Tarwater, CEO of Charlotte, N.C.-based Carolinas HealthCare system, who received a $2.8 million bonus last year.
Carolinas HealthCare System is one of the three North Carolina hospital systems Grassley observed as part of his investigation into the 340B program. Research undertaken by Grassley's staff found all but one health system discussed in the Kaiser Health News article has at least one 340B-eligible hospital.
"If some 340B-eligible hospitals have significant money available for executive bonuses, that raises questions about how they allocate their resources," Grassley said in the announcement. "Are they doing everything possible to help uninsured patients receive healthcare, including affordable prescription drugs?"
Grassley has contacted Health Resources and Services Administration, various hospitals and Kaiser Health News. He plans to continue taking actions to solve this issue to ensure 340B savings are passed along to indigent patients, not executive bonuses.
For more:
- read the Charlotte Observer article
- here's Grassley's announcement
- check out the KHN report
- read the Charlotte Observer article
- here's Grassley's announcement
- check out the KHN report
Related Articles:
Hospital exec bonuses reward volume over value
Aetna CEO compensation totals $36M
Nonprofit hospitals defend high CEO pay
Hospital executives, administrators enjoy 6-figure pay
Do hospitals profit from drug discounts meant for poor, uninsured patients?
Hospital exec bonuses reward volume over value
Aetna CEO compensation totals $36M
Nonprofit hospitals defend high CEO pay
Hospital executives, administrators enjoy 6-figure pay
Do hospitals profit from drug discounts meant for poor, uninsured patients?
Thank You Fierce Healthcare, Ms Kravetz, and Sen Grassley.
And while we're at it, if you want a look at exactly How non-profit your local "non-profit" Hospitals are, . . . . here you go. Look them up.
990 Non Profits By County/Year
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