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Pfizer and other healthcare companies are lobbying against a law that would make it easier for whistleblowers to report on their companies.
The law is called the False Claims Act. It used to protect whistleblowers but in recent years, courts have ruled that companies cannot be accused of fraud if the government has continued to pay them contracts. This makes it harder to accuse a company of fraud if they have large government contracts that cannot be pulled all of a sudden.
Politicians, led by Senator Chuck Grassley, are working to strengthen the False Claims Act but Pfizer has hired a lobbyist firm to discourage this effort. So has Amgen, AstraZeneca, Merck, Genentech, The American Hospital Association and others. They argue that if whistleblowers are empowered to litigate, that would increase legal expenses for these companies and in turn, increase healthcare costs for consumers. Yes. They are so concerned about keeping healthcare costs down for Americans.
