Commemorative Series No. 2 · The Drug Money
OUTSPENTNo. 01/54
Mitch
McConnell
U.S. Senate · R-KY
Taken from pharma & insurers
$710,190
H.R.1 · Medicare drug-price ban · 2003tap to flip ⤺
WHO THEY WORK FORNo. 01/54
Insurers & HMOs$372,377
Pharma & Health$337,813
Banned Medicare from negotiating drug prices for 19 years. Once it could (2024), prices fell 38–79%. · 108-1-459OUTSPENT
Card 1 of 54 · tap the card to see who they work for
Beyond the check
The check is only the part you can see.
They took
$710,190
The industry spent on the bill
$116M
on drug-industry lobbying in 2003, about ten lobbyists for every senator
In the family
His wife, Elaine Chao, was a banker at Citicorp and Bank of America. Her family's shipping firm relies on Chinese state-bank financing.
Source: The Intercept; CNN
The industry figure is lobbying spent on the bill, not a payment to this senator. Source: Public Citizen (2004); Center for Public Integrity. Everything here is documented public record; nothing alleges an illegal act.
★ Hall of Shame
McConnell voted with the money in more than one set:
Don't recognize a logo? Here's the key.
Insurers & HMOs$372,377
Humana$249,752
Aetna$43,375
UnitedHealth$32,200
Cigna$23,235
Anthem/Elevance$20,670
Centene$2,400
CVS Health$745
Pharma & Health$337,813
Eli Lilly$88,100
Amgen$77,360
Johnson & Johnson$70,760
PhRMA$37,500
Pfizer$29,025
Merck$15,850
Bristol Myers Squibb$9,870
AbbVie$9,348