The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen on Tuesday charged the pharmaceutical industry with using a front group to fund misleading television advertisements in support of a Republican-backed Medicare prescription drug bill.
The group issued a report accusing Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) of funneling millions of dollars through a senior citizens’ organization in an attempt to influence the debate on how to add a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program. Democrats in the US Senate highlighted the report as evidence that the brandname drug industry is working to derail their efforts to provide a government-funded medication benefit to the elderly and disabled.
The Senate on Monday began debating its own versions of the proposed benefit. Public Citizen’s report states that the Fairfax, Virginia-based United Seniors’ Association (USA) has spent nearly $10 million over the past 12 months on television ads in 29 congressional districts. The spots, running in the districts of 24 Republicans and five Democrats, urge voters to thank their representatives for voting last month to support a GOP-backed prescription drug plan in the House.
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