Hey Big Spendah! AMA, Pharma Among Top Influence Purchasers

The old expression “Money’s the answer. What’s the question?” comes quickly to mind in light of a recent analysis of political lobbying expenditures.

SpenderAccording to a recent MapLight analysis of federal lobbying disclosures between July and September of this year, the American Medical Association ranked #5 in total spending ($4.28 million in Q3), followed by the Pharmaceutical Reseaerch & Manufacturers of America ($4.24M), and the American Hospital Association ($4.02M).

That puts Big Medicine right up there with the top tier bankrollers like the National Association of Realtors ($7.5M), the National Association of Manufacturers ($5.98M) and the American Bankers Association ($4.29M).

Biotech titan, Allergan, spent over $1.1M on lobbying over the last 3 months, and Cardinal Health—one of the biggest medical supply distributors—dropped close to a mil, nearly doubling its spend in the previous quarter.

MapLight, an independent non-partisan organization that researchers the influence of money on policy, describes “huge lobbying increases” by the insurance, oil and pharma industries in late 2015.

Inside the beltway, it seems the economy is doing juuuust fine!

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