Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Group gave Nevada legislators more than $1.7 million during the 2024 election cycle, up about 30% from the previous cycle.
The pharmaceutical industry was responsible for about $300,000 in total contributions, while healthcare groups, which are defined as anything from hospitals and insurance companies to patient advocacy groups, have donated about $1.4 million.
About two-thirds of the medical group went to the Democrats (which holds 40 of the 63 seats in Congress), but the pharmaceutical industry gave donations to both parties, with about 60% of the donations going to the Democrats.
Total spending reflects the prominent aspects of Nevada healthcare players, with dozens of proposals being proposed, and dozens of proposals have been proposed to make rising healthcare costs and other changes that could significantly change the state's healthcare environment.
Gov. Joe Lombardo highlighted healthcare costs in his January state speech, noting that access to healthcare is “limited to too much.” He pledged to deal with one of his five proposed policy bills to the Nevada Health Care System, and at the same time called for the state's Department of Health and Human Services to be split into two agencies.
Although the Lombardo bill has not yet been introduced, lawmakers have already taken steps to expand residency training and postdoc fellowships (the ideas popular on both sides of the aisle). Insurance companies' prescription drug benefits system.
Lawmakers aren't putting a lot of proposals heavily on the bubble. They negotiate with members of the healthcare industry, patient advocates and policy experts.
This analysis is part of Nevada Independence's “Follow the Money” series, which explores the industry that gave state legislators the most money during the 2024 election cycle and the goals of the 2025 session. The series is a manual classification of approximately 11,000 donations from donors who gave more than $200 throughout the cycle.
Click here to view previous editions.
Pharmaceuticals
The $144,000 donated by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers (PHRMA) (a trade group representing the pharmaceutical group), consists of nearly half of the total contributions in the pharmaceutical sector to lawmakers, with donations being divided almost evenly between Democrats and the Republic. This was an increase of about $30,000 from the 2022 election cycle.
The Nevada Independent previously reported that Pharma Groups do not normally base their long-term contribution strategies on certain laws, but use them as a way to walk into the door with influential lawmakers.
Most donations were made in 2024, but in 2023, about a third of the donations were made.
The 2023 session was a prominent session for the industry. Lombardo rejected the Democrat-backed industry-appointed proposal (AB250) that would see Nevada's piggyback from Nevada's Inflation Reduction Act, which would allow Medicare to negotiate prices for prescription drugs by applying these prices statewide, not just Medicare's ones, but also the Democrats'.
This session is reintroducing this session without modification as AB259, and PHRMA is once again opposed on the ground that it will set arbitrary price caps on the drug without state-level reviews.
“The needs are still here,” assm. Venicia Considine (D-Las Vegas), who sponsored the bill and the 2023 edition, said at a hearing last month. “Two years from now, we are still in the same situation. I hope that this time the governor will do the right thing.”
It also opposes AB44, a proposal from Attorney General Aaron Ford that aims to ban price adjustments for essential products, including drugs. Phrma claims it is similar to price management.
In a statement, PhRMA spokesman Reid Porter said, “While we may not agree with all the issues, we believe dialogue is important to promote a policy environment that supports patients' affordable, highly skilled workforce and innovation, a life-saving drug.”
Second, there has been a slight increase since 2022 in the Industry Association (PCMA), representing Pharmacy Benefits Managers (PBMS), which has given lawmakers $36,500.
The PBMS is responsible for determining a list of prescription medication health plans. Health plans are among other roles to negotiate with manufacturers with subscribers.
Read more: Indy Description: Do drug dealers' profit managers blame high drug prices?
This year, lawmakers are considering a small number of PBM-related bills, including SB389, which requires state health agencies to contract with a single PBM, to oversee all compensation and prescription drug benefits by 2030.
A broad bill, SB316, also establishes transparency and disclosure rules for certain PBMs. This includes prohibiting the ability of a person to access prescription drugs at certain pharmacies from interfering with other new requirements in a timely and timely manner.
The PCMA opposed the bill, saying the transparency requirement should also apply to all other entities in the drug supply chain. He also said that the PBM bill passed in other states does not reduce patient costs or increase access to drugs, and that drug manufacturers are determining drug costs rather than PBM.
In contrast to the PCMA's democratic lean, about two-thirds of the money donated by leading drug maker Pfizer went to Republicans despite being a significant minority in Congress.
Of the five top recipients of the industry's dollars, four were in leadership roles or sat on the chamber of commerce health committee.
The top Republican recipient was freshman ASSM. Rebecca Edgeworth (R-Las Vegas) is a doctor and received $11,500.
health care
The distribution of campaign dollars in the healthcare sector was more evenly distributed.
Half of the industry's $1.4 million contributions came from just 10 groups of state advocacy groups and insurance providers, primarily. The groups that Indy designated as part of the healthcare sector often have different priorities and entities often conflict with larger providers on behalf of patients.
The top non-healthcare providers were HCA Healthcare, a Tennessee-based healthcare conglomerate that operates many of Las Vegas' Nevada emergency care practices and sunrise, Sunrise Children's, Mountain View and Southern Hills Hospital.
The company has donated more than $150,000 – evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans – which was a small percentage of the donations made in 2022.
HCA Healthcare declined to comment, but has been involved in several bills in this session.
I'm against SB378. This is a bill that will prevent the use of independent emergency departments. This is a different type of emergency room from a hospital, but it offers the same level of care.
It also opposes SB182, which requires a minimum of staffing ratios for nurses and patients at Nevada Hospitals, because limiting bed availability and higher cost of care could lead to increased patient waiting times.
The second largest donor was the Nevada Hospital Association, the state's top advocacy group. During the 2024 cycle, they gave lawmakers $135,000, with about 60% going to the Democrats.
In a statement, the association said it “works to protect consumers from legislative measures that could potentially increase the costs of healthcare.”
“Our priority is to work with legislators to fully understand the proposed policies in line with hospital operations and potential impacts (both positive and negative) and how they are in line with vulnerable healthcare delivery systems,” the statement said.
Sean Golonka contributed data analysis, while Tabitha Mueller contributed reporting.
