August 14, 2009 (by Rich Thomaselli of Advertising Age, www.adage.com )

Obama Health Care Reform Effort Gets $150 Million Boost From Unlikely Ally

With members of Congress being subjected to constituent ire and cable news programs focusing on shouting matches and protests, the Obama administration’s attempt at health care reform may get its biggest boost from an ad blitz paid for by the pharmaceutical industry.

The industry’s lobby group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, will spend $150 million while Congress is on summer recess, according to executives with knowledge of the plans, to try to convince Americans that the president’s plan for health care reform is the right way to go.

PhRMA senior vice president Ken Johnson declined to reveal how much the group will spend but said some of the ads will be TV spots in 12 key states, while others will be part of a national cable buy and still others will run on radio and in print.

“I’m not going to speculate on the amount of money, but our board has agreed to make a significant commitment to try and bring health care reform across the finish line,” Johnson said. “The new ads will focus on the importance of making certain that everyone has high-quality, affordable health insurance, including affordable co-payments and does not deny coverage because of a pre-existing condition.”

Johnson declined to name the agencies producing the work but said the ads are part of an umbrella effort called Americans for Stable Quality Care. PhRMA is leading the group, which also includes the American Medical Association; the powerful Service Employees International Union; and the Washington-based health care advocacy group Families USA, with which PhRMA partnered recently on the “Harry and Louise” TV ads.

Healthy Economy Now, another pro-reform group, has already run one flight of ads. The group comprises many of the same members as Americans for Stable Quality Care, including PhRMA, the AMA and SEIU, along with AARP and the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of leading U.S. companies.

Traditionally pro-Republican

Traditionally PhRMA has been pro-Republican. Its president and CEO, Billy Tauzin, is a former U.S. representative from Louisiana who was elected as a Democrat but switched to the Republican Party.

But drug makers are certainly in favor of reform, in part because a guarantee of health insurance coverage for the approximately 45 million Americans without it likely would mean an increase in prescription drug sales and in part because of a loose agreement reached with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, in which pharmaceutical companies agreed to pick up $80 billion—but no more—of the estimated $1 trillion cost of health care reform in the next 10 years.

It’s still a crapshoot for PhRMA, however. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, is already on record saying the deal is not set in stone, and the Associated Press reported that when several groups agreed to accept the cost reductions, Tauzin was not among those invited to the White House.

Johnson said observers should quit focusing on political affiliation.

“We’ve always tried to be as inclusive and bipartisan as possible,” he said. “In the past we’ve worked with Republicans and today we work with Democrats. But we believe a bipartisan bill will emerge that will serve as the blueprint of reform.”

‘On the right side of history’

Peter Pitts, former associate commissioner for the Food and Drug Administration and president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, said he agrees this isn’t about partisanship.

“I don’t think it’s a question of PhRMA running ads that are pro-Obama versus ads that are anti-Obama,” Pitts said. “They’re simply ads that talk about the need to change the system for the better. I see it as PhRMA trying to lead the parade as opposed to being swept up in the tides of health care reform. I see it as PhRMA being smart, trying to stay out in front and trying to be on the right side of history.”

And it makes business sense.

“I think the industry saw that a different tack was needed given the changes in the marketplace combined with a very negative perception of the industry,” said Mike Guarini, president of New York-based health care agency MRG Management Services.

Guarini has seen the health care debate from both sides, including from the position of marketing director at Bristol-Myers Squibb.

“I think the industry wanted to be at the table instead of being dictated to. On a pure commercial basis? More people covered, more prescriptions sold,” Guarini said.