Competing Interests in Health Care Policymaking Get Spotlight

From Courthouse News Service:

Investigating conflicts of interest in federal policymaking, a new study published Wednesday finds that financial investments in health care are comparable among members of congressional oversight committees on health care and other members of Congress not on such committees.

The study tracked how the value and composition of the health care industry assets held by lawmakers had changed over time. It also compared legislators who sat on committees and subcommittees with key responsibilities for health care legislation and oversight to legislators who didn't sit on the committees. Overall, it found that in the decade between 2004 and 2014, around a third of all members of Congress consistently held assets related to health care in fields such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical device supplying and health insurance.

According to Matthew McCoy, lead author on the study and an assistant professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania, the researchers were driven to investigate the topic after seeing reports in the news of Congress members’ conflicts of interest.

An example, McCoy said, would be Republican Representative Chris Collins, a New York Republican who was arrested in 2018 on insider trading charges related to his crafting health care legislation as a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee while holding heavy investments in a biotech company.

McCoy said the study was conducted with the goal of seeing if those with more responsibilities in health care regulation also had more investments in the health care industry.