State Reps Change Vote On Banning Gifts To Doctors

By Rachel Gotbaum
Apr 28, 2011, 3:30 PM
1 Comments

Pharmaceutical companies spend nearly $30 billion a year to market their drugs and the majority of that money is spent on wooing doctors with free dinners,trips and drug samples for their patients.

(jasleen_kaur/Flickr)

Massachusetts currently has one of the strictest laws in the country regulating drug company gifts to doctors. The law includes a ban on buying doctors meals at restaurants, and a limit on gifts to no more than a $50 value. The drug companies are also required to disclose those gifts to the State Department of Public Health.

Earlier this week, the Massachusetts House voted to repeal much of that law, ending the ban on gifts to doctors.

James Miceli, a state representative from Wilmington, voted in support of the original ban on gifts to doctors in 2009 and voted against loosening the law when it came up last year. But this time Miceli voted to repeal the law. What changed?

Guest:

State Rep. James Miceli, representative from Wilmington

Other stories from this show:

Dr. X

They might spin it that it’s for the benefit of the, “hospitality industry”, but the fact is that Mr. Miceli and his colleagues have drunk the campaign contribution contribution kool-aid dispensed by the gallon by the pharmaceutical industry. Look up former federal rep Billy Tauzin and his history with PhRMA, the industry lobbying group if you’d like some sickening enlightenment on that score. All the lobbying and the costs of these, “gifts”, are going result in higher costs for drugs (particularly due to increased use of brand-name drugs, which are already over the moon) which will be passed on to the patients and to the taxpayer via higher costs to Medicare and Medicaid.

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State Reps Change Vote On Banning Gifts To Doctors