CPB and Rebelo: Big Pharma in Politics

Who writes health policy, and who pays for it

Chris Brandlin and Rebelo discuss pharmaceutical campaign contributions and the influence of industry money on health policy — specifically the gap between who drafts a regulation and who funds the campaigns of the people voting on it.

The argument put forward here is structural rather than personal. Their contention is that when an industry is among the largest sources of political giving, the resulting policy tends to reflect that access, whether or not any individual transaction ever occurs. Federal campaign contributions are public record and can be reviewed directly through the Federal Election Commission; Nevada state-level contribution and expense reports are published by the Nevada Secretary of State.

These are the speakers' views on how the incentive structure operates, not findings of wrongdoing against any named company or official.

The same reasoning drives the accountability work on this site: the donor transparency report for the AD-42 race applies the follow-the-money question locally, and the voting record pairs it with how those votes actually landed.

Related: the longer take on pharmaceutical campaign money, plus the full public health policy series and more podcast and television appearances.