Out of all clients registered with the Secretary of State, the healthcare industry topped Beacon Hill lobbying expenditures in 2018. The Massachusetts Association of Health Plans spent the most money on lobbying altogether — $1.14 million, according to online public records.
Following closely with $1.1 million in total, the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association spent the most on lobbying salaries with $928,000.
Mass. Association of Health Plans spokesperson Pete Wilson said the association is “very meticulous” in how they report their expenses and lobbying salaries. He said the association tracks more than 500 bills each legislative session.
“Massachusetts is probably the most heavy-regulated healthcare marketplace in the country,” Wilson said.
Michael Sroczynski, the Mass. Health and Hospital Association’s senior vice president for government advocacy, said in a statement that because of the major role hospitals play in the healthcare system, it is essential for the hospital community to take part in public policy debates.
“MHA works continually with state leaders, policymakers and other healthcare stakeholders to ensure that the hospital community’s focus on accessible, high quality patient-centered care remains in the forefront of the discussions of healthcare reform in the commonwealth,” Sroczynski said in the statement.
Wilson said that in the last legislative session, there were “two major comprehensive health care bills” that had a large impact on the industry. On the federal level, he said, healthcare policy has also changed.
“If you look at the changes the Trump administration has proposed to the Affordable Care Act, pertaining [to] access to women’s contraception,” Wilson said, “we were part of a coalition in the past session to make sure that we protected the rights and access to women’s contraception regardless of what changes they make at the federal level.”
Alan Sager, a professor of health law, policy and management at Boston University’s School of Public Health, said he thinks Mass. Association of Health Plans members may be worried that legislature will regulate some of their efforts.
“The lobbying may be designed to educate or argue to legislators and legislative leadership that the health plans should be left alone to conduct their high-cost, high-premium business as usual,” Sager said.
Ian Jones, 29, of Quincy, said funding should be allocated to help the average person save on medical costs.
“[Premiums should be lowered] by really looking at what the cost actually is,” Jones said, “and not paying the CEOs insane amounts of money and have them forgo a bonus for a couple of years.”
Tamara Mavroides, 66, of Warren, is a licensed nurse. She said she thinks the reason so much money is being poured into healthcare lobbying is because the United States does not have adequate healthcare.
“People all over the world come here,” Mavroides said. “We have the best doctors, but we don’t have public health.”
