Healthcare lobbying spending ballooned 70 percent from 2000 to 2020, a new study published in JAMA Health Forum found.
The study, published Oct. 28, analyzed lobbying spending reports from nonpartisan organization OpenSecrets, which tracks money in politics.
In 2020, healthcare lobbying expenditures totaled $713.6 million, compared to $358.2 million in 2000. According to the study, health product manufacturers spent the most on lobbying, followed by providers, then payers. Spending among payers was the most concentrated, however, with the top 10 percent of firms responsible for 70.4 percent of spending in that category in 2020.
The authors, affiliated with New York City-based Weill Cornell Medicine and Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania, wrote that lobbying expenditures increased more sharply in the early 2000s, driven by lobbying efforts targeting the Affordable Care Act.
Read the full study here.