There's no question Utah Senator Orrin Hatch has a close relationship to the pharmaceutical industry. This short video outlines some of the questionable connections between Hatch and prescription drug companies.
Here are a few points from the video (and others not included in the video):
- Senator Hatch prevented generic drugs from entering the market by "lead[ing] Senate efforts to give drug companies 12 years of exclusive rights to sell biotech drugs, rather than seven..." (USA Today)
- Senator Hatch supported and voted in favor of the Medicare Part D legislation which added prescription drug coverage to Medicare.
- The Medicare part D legislation does not permit the federal government to negotiate prices of drugs with the drug companies. That means drug companies get paid more per prescription than they do from other insurance companies. (AZ Star)
- Senator Hatch's biggest campaign contributors are pharmaceutical/health product companies. He's received more than $1.7 million since 1998. (opensecrets)
- Pharmaceutical companies have given at least $172,500 to a charitable organization Hatch helped start (and is still involved in), the Utah Families Foundation. "Under...law, companies lobbying Congress have to report donations to charities 'established, financed, maintained or controlled' by a member of Congress. Mr. Hatch helped start the organization and serves as a host at its fundraisers, but he’s not on its board of directors", so these contributions do not have to be reported. (Washington Times)
- Hatch's son Scott is a lobbyist at Walker, Martin & Hatch. His firm "has been paid more than $1.5 million by pharmaceutical and medical companies since 2001, according to Senate lobbying records." (Washington Times)
- Hatch "cast the only dissenting vote in the Senate in 2003 on an amendment that would reduce protections that the pharmaceutical companies used to block generic drugs from entering the market." (Washington Times)
- "After using a complimentary Gulfstream executive jet provided by drugmaker Schering-Plough Corp. for his long-shot presidential campaign in 2000, he drafted legislation extending the drug company’s patent on the drug Claritin." (Washington Times)
There's more to Senator Orrin Hatch's Medicare mess. Click here for part 1 of the series.
