ICYMI: Bankrolled by Pharmaceuticals, Mike Rogers Helped Block Medicare Price Negotiation [Michigan Independent]

Rogers is "bankrolled" and has received "more than $1 million" by Big Pharma, as he "helped block Medicare price negotiation"

LANSING - New reporting from the Michigan Independent details how Mike Rogers is "bankrolled by pharmaceuticals," receiving "more than $1 million in contributions" from Big Pharma while he "helped block Medicare price negotiation."

Rogers voted for legislation which "contained an industry-backed provision explicitly prohibiting the government from negotiating drug prices." Rogers explained his opposition to drug price negotiation by comparing it to the free market and saying "over time, this is an investment we will reap the rewards for."

In Congress, Rogers "voted against the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act" and "against a bill that would have allowed reimportation of drugs from foreign countries," parroting industry talking points to defend his vote.

"Mike Rogers sold out to Big Pharma and raked in over a million dollars as he voted to keep prescription drug prices high while Michiganders pay the price. Rogers' record is clear - he will do anything to enrich himself and his wealthy special interest backers, even when it hurts working families," said Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Sam Chan.

Read Michigan Independent's reporting on Mike Rogers who is "bankrolled" by Big Pharma and "repeatedly voted for Big Pharma's interests:"

Michigan Independent: Bankrolled by pharmaceuticals, Mike Rogers helped block Medicare price negotiation

• Over seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, Michigan Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers repeatedly voted against allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prices with drug manufacturers.
• Rogers has received more than $1 million in contributions to his campaigns and his political action committee from the pharmaceutical and health products industry since 1999.
• Congress first created Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit portion of the safety-net program, in 2003. Rogers was one of 220 representatives - 204 of them Republicans - who voted for the legislation, which contained an industry-backed provision explicitly prohibiting the government from negotiating drug prices.
• In a January 2006 appearance on C-SPAN, Rogers defended the restriction: "What we have found is the free market does work. I mean, it made America great. Why can't we apply it to the drug costs to get them down? And it's working. So I argue that, over time, this is an investment we will reap the rewards for. Preventative treatment, those kind of things were built into that bill. Competition is getting in to start holding drug prices down. And if the government negotiates it and sets the price here, competition doesn't have to go lower than that. That's where the price will be. So this has been a bit of an experiment, I think, and a good one when it comes to costs."
• With drug prices outpacing inflation, congressional Democrats have repeatedly attempted to lift the ban on negotiations. In January 2007, Rogers voted against the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, which passed in the House but was filibustered by Senate Republicans.
• According to OpenSecrets, Rogers has received $673,390 over his political career in campaign donations from the pharmaceutical/health products industry. A Michigan Independent analysis of contributions to his Majority Initiative to Keep Electing Republicans (MIKE R) Fund leadership PAC found it got at least another $329,921 in donations from the sector.
• In the early 2000s, many Americans purchased prescription drugs in Canada and other countries, where the same medications were significantly cheaper. Rogers voted in July 2003 against a bill that would have allowed reimportation of drugs from foreign countries.
• In a Lansing State Journal op-ed the following month, Rogers… repeated industry talking points, warning, "Unmonitored, reimported prescription drugs can and have killed American citizens."

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