Something that informed my decision as a young man to pursue politics was "Clear and Present Danger," the movie where Harrison Ford stands up to almost infinite Washington shenanigans. One of the more memorable lines is when the corrupt POTUS tells Ford that he needs to do the “old Potomac two-step”—say one thing while doing another.
I have been reminded of this as I’ve seen one of Washington’s biggest, most corrupt actors—Big Pharma—try to get conservative Americans to dance for them by using the issue of illegal immigration to train ire on drugmakers’ opponents in a major policy fight, while conveniently ignoring the industry’s role as a magnet for illegal immigration, including from migrants who will give birth to anchor babies while on U.S. soil.
Conservatives traditionally supported the pharmaceutical industry because we believed that the government should stay out of industries' way so they can do their best work, unencumbered by heavy-handed regulation. In the case of the drug industry, in theory, anyway, this means creating new, innovative medicines. But while we’ve been Big Pharma’s friend, its only friend is profits. Big Pharma gave red America the opioid crisis, which has become a Hepatitis, HIV, and AIDS crisis. It exploited the “pandemic” to reap billions thanks to vaccine mandates. It chemically mutilates vulnerable young people with “gender-affirming” hormone treatments. And yes, the industry does plenty to attract Mexicans and Central Americans without work authorization into the U.S. and, once here, make it easier for them to stay put.
Lately, Big Pharma has been pushing a narrative that hospitals that participate in a drug discount program called 340B—which drugmakers hate because they hate selling at a discount, but which they are also free to opt out of at any time so long as they don’t keep billing taxpayers for Medicare and Medicaid drugs—are acting as a magnet for illegal immigration. They’ve identified a few instances of those hospitals advertising baby delivery services to non-U.S. populations. They’re trying to generate opposition to the entire program, which just so happens to overwhelmingly benefit rural, working-class Americans in Appalachia and the South—also known as MAGA territory—by drawing attention to these instances on social media.
But while they’re engaged in this particular version of the old Potomac two-step, the drug industry is desperate to avoid scrutiny of the fact that they have long acted as a counterweight to what, back in 2012, we used to call “self-deportation.” The industry keeps drugs cheap for illegals by explicitly making available to illegals cheap medicine, via coupons and discount programs stood up by the drug industry entirely voluntarily, as a “customer development” endeavor.
Big Pharma is also uninterested in talking about their use of cheap, immigrant labor to maximize profits.
And Pharma companies really hate talking about how they lure Mexican and Central American illegals to sneak over the border, where drugmakers buy their blood as part of plasma-harvesting schemes. Although the Red Cross recommends only donating plasma once per month, some of these people are donating more than 70 times per year. Border centers bring in 31 percent more than average centers nationwide, according to one court filing. The industry is exploiting the fact that it’s been illegal to sell plasma in Mexico since 1987, and making bank literally by paying migrants to cross the border to sell their blood.
The bottom line: 340B isn’t a magnet for illegal migration—Big Pharma is. And the program they’re trying to destroy benefits Republican voters.
The American Hospital Association estimates that 340B saves patients between 25 and 50 percent on the cost of drugs. Indeed, in 2024, according to one report, 340B saved beneficiaries $98 billion in medical costs, a number which is predicted to increase year over year.
Since it was created by Republicans in 1992, 340B has been especially important to serving rural patients. That matters greatly, because in the last 20 years, 195 rural hospitals have closed, while another 65 have gone through “converted closures”—meaning services have been cut or eliminated entirely. 340B provides a lifeline to hospitals “that serve low-income and indigent populations.” Of those rural clinics that have survived the massive population shift to cities, it’s estimated that as many as 40 percent are in danger of shutting down.
Once again, it’s the old Potomac two-step. Conservatives need to be savvy enough to tell Big Pharma that we don’t dance.