State lawmakers in Oregon have tried to lower high drug prices from nearly every angle: They’ve sought to cap how much people can pay for insulin, install a panel that could determine how much state agencies should pay for medicines, and even import drugs in bulk from Canada. Nearly every proposal has failed.
One reason, at least according to the effort’s supporters: Two-thirds of the state legislature accepted at least one campaign check from the drug industry during the 2020 election cycle. The trade group PhRMA, alone, wrote checks to 43 of the legislature’s 90 lawmakers.
It was even more dramatic in Louisiana, where 84% of lawmakers accepted funding from pharmaceutical companies. In California, it was 82%, and in Illinois, 76% of legislators cashed a check.
“It’s gross,” said Rachel Prusak, a Democratic state representative in Oregon who has introduced a number of drug pricing bills. “I’m sure it influences other people that take a lot of money. That’s why we can’t get bills passed.”
