As opioids legislation gains steam, efforts to address crisis collide with moneyed interests
WASHINGTON — As legislation to address the opioid epidemic gains momentum, drug makers, insurers, and other interest groups are engaging in a concerted drive to tailor the bills to their liking.
The effort, in some cases, has resulted in lawmakers softening, or entirely backing off, some of their most far-reaching proposals.
Members of Congress have advanced dozens of bipartisan bills that advocates say are needed, commonsense steps to address the public health crisis. Later this month, the House is likely to consider legislation that would speed approvals for non-opioid painkillers, strengthen drug enforcement programs, improve care for children impacted by addiction, strive to reduce prescription levels, and improve prescription monitoring programs.
But not all of the proposals have gone unopposed. The pharmaceutical trade group PhRMA, the American Medical Association, and a major drug distributor are among a handful of players maneuvering to shape the legislation, according to a review of lobbying disclosures by STAT and interviews with Capitol Hill aides, lawmakers, and lobbyists.
“This is the big time, and the price of working on major legislation is that insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies get involved,” said Andrew Kessler, a longtime advocate on addiction
