At once As lawmakers tackle cost, access and regulatory questions, healthcare industry power players continued to dominate the world of lobbying at Beacon Hill last year, spending most of their time hiring influential insiders who will shake up the development of public policy.
According to data from the office of Secretary William Galvin, the Massachusetts Health Planning Association spent $1.3 million on lobbyists in 2024. The insurer’s representative organization replaced the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, earning lobbying spending in 2022 and 2023, but ranked second in last year with $1.1 million.
These organizations were just two clients who spent more than $1 million on lobbying last year.
Many healthcare and drug adjacency groups also ranked top in lobbying spending in 2024, including Massachusetts Biotechnology Council ($866,139), Massachusetts Nurse Association ($519,191), and Massachusetts Blue Cross Blue Shield ($4603,07) health status ($4603).
Healthcare policy is one of the most troublesome and most complicated topics for lawmakers to tackle. Congress enacted a pair of major reform bills in 2024. This was intended to reduce the costs of prescription drugs and imposed more financial oversight in hospitals following the collapse of steward healthcare.
However, the issues that bother both providers and patients remain strong. Senator Cindy Friedman, Senate Points Person on Healthcare Reform; I warned last week The health care system is “collapsing.”
The total amount paid by all clients on various topics to lobbyists rose to $104.1 million in 2024, across nine people’s figures.
The same top lobbying shop continues to order the most money from clients.
The five top wort companies in 2023 each held the same rankings led by Smith, Costello and Crawford in 2024, and were transported last year for $6.2 million.
Like many lobbying entities around Beacon Hill, Smith, Costello and Crawford, it counts former civil servants who are well-connected within their ranks. The company is partially led by former Democrats of Michael Costello, with another former president, Carlo Basil, a senior policy adviser. This is the same title held by Marylou Sudders, who served as the secretary of health and welfare under Gov. Charlie Baker.
Smith, Costello and Crawford’s top paling client – $180,000 last year – was energy giant Avangrid and was a key figure in the state’s push to build clean energy sources, including offshore winds.
The Tremont Strategies Group is second in a lobbying company with around $4.5 million. Former Congressman Chet Atkins, who also served in the Massachusetts home and the Senate, is a partner at Tremont.
The five top warning companies were O’Neill and Partners ($4.28 million), Dempsey Associates ($3.77 million), Carney, Donovan and McGee ($3.5 million).
All five ranking spots were captured by the same companies as in 2023, but in a slightly different order. The ML strategy jumped from the seventh revenue in 2023 to the sixth in 2024, messing up the Bay State Strategies Group. Similarly, the Issue Management Group rose from 9th in 2023 to 8th in 2024, swapping locations with TSK Associates. The Suffolk Group landed in both decades, earning around $2.26 million in 2024.
In 2024, there were fewer individual lobbyists than Robert Trabaglini, the former Senate speaker who founded what was known as TSK Associates after leaving Congress.
According to data from Galvin’s office, Travaglini was transported in 2024 by his lobbying client for $854,000. Bashir, the top winner in 2023, made his second landing last year, landing at $830,000 lobbying salary.
The private sector could have a much better advantage for lawmakers than staying in Congress. State pay records show current Senate Speaker Karen Spilka won $203,286 in total pay last year.
Fourteen lobbyists won more than $500,000 from companies last year, with $56 bringing at least $250,000.
The other three registered lobbyists were paid at least $250,000 or more from their clients. Lora Pellegrini, president of the Massachusetts Health Planning Association ($469,233 for MAHP), Joseph Corazzini, vice president of Clark University (nearly $235,000 from Clark University trustee), and Opencape CEO StevenSton ($246,159).
