Poll: drug companies too powerful

Americans are more concerned about the influence of pharmaceutical companies in Washington than they are about Wall Street, labor unions or the National Rifle Association, according to a new poll.

Soaring drug prices are in the news. In Georgia the Medicaid budget alone put more than $700 million toward pharmacy services. And that doesn't touch what Georgians with their own insurance or no insurance are doling out.

In the poll, 72 percent of respondents said the pharmaceutical industry had too much influence in Washington, second only to “large businesses” at 76 percent. Next down was Wall Street at 69 percent. Many other medical businesses mentioned in the poll didn’t come close.

Some groups that provoke strong reactions were included, such as labor unions, typically seen as liberal, and the NRA, typically seen as conservative. They registered just 28 percent and 52 percent, respectively, of respondents saying they had too much influence.

The Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit research group, runs the tracking poll periodically, and it conducted the latest one earlier this month.

There is no shortage of ammunition for critics of the pharmaceutical industry's influence. The government isn't allowed to negotiate drug prices for Medicare, for example, and the new secretary of health and human services, Alex Azar, is a former pharmaceutical executive.