By The Honorable Bob Franks, President, HealthCare Institute of New Jersey
New Brunswick, NJ, February 1, 2003 — As the new President of the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ), I have a simple, yet compelling belief: Our collective voice can have a profound impact on New Jersey’s policy makers.
With each passing day, pressure is mounting on members of Congress to enact policies that could be very harmful to our industry. Let’s be clear — the issue is not whether Congress will soon be making decisions that will have a profound impact on the way our industry operates. That is a given. Rather, the only real question is whether Congress will hear from the employees of the pharmaceutical industry and our allies before they make those decisions.
As employees of New Jersey’s life sciences industry, you’ve shown time and time again that you know how to discover and develop breakthrough medicines. Patients around the globe have come to rely upon your efforts to find cures to diseases of all types.
With so much at stake in this debate, shouldn’t the Congress listen to the employees of the pharmaceutical and medical technology industry?
As a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, I can tell you that they should, but there is no guarantee that they will. Some of you may be saying, “So what? The politicians wouldn’t listen to us anyway!”
Let me assure you, that belief is fundamentally wrong. It’s true that Congressman rely on a variety of sources as they consider how to vote on a particular issue. They seek out their colleagues, they depend on their healthcare legislative aide, and they pay attention to the media and a wide array of lobbyists on all sides of any given issue.
But more important to a Congressman than anything else is the answer to a simple question: “How do my constituents feel about this issue?”
After all, these are elected officials who operate in the public sector. They are motivated by two extraordinarily important considerations.
First, they want to do a good job. They want to believe they are enacting public policies that are good for America. They want to make the right decision in a very difficult environment.
Second, they want to be re-elected. Therefore, the opinions of their constituents have great weight. Congressmen work very hard at soliciting input from their constituents. Consequently, they pay extraordinarily close attention to all communications coming from a resident of their district.
As knowledgeable, dedicated workers in the state’s most important economic engine, we need your voice to be heard. As constituents, you have an enormous advantage over the “hired guns” who are lobbying Congress.
And that’s where you and 66,000 other full-time employees of the pharmaceutical industry in New Jersey have an invaluable role to play.
As we seek to build a powerful, industry-wide advocacy effort, we must always remember that in this information age, knowledge is power. Moreover, there is real danger if we fail to communicate with our elected officials during the upcoming debate. If we are silent, the federal government could enact policies that would muzzle innovation, quell investment, and affect thousands of jobs — making our ability to develop life-saving drugs and devices virtually impossible.
With our grassroots employee initiative there will be a number of ways that you could choose to communicate with your elected representative. They include:
- Sending e-mails
- Attending town hall meetings
- Making a phone call
- Sending a personal note
- Meeting with your representative as part of an industry group.
As HINJ moves forward with our public education campaign, I hope you will take the time to make your voice heard.
Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” What you can do is make your views known; what you have is credibility and clout as a constituent; where you are is at a critical juncture in the national debate about the future of healthcare.
Therefore, let me end where I began. I have a simple, yet compelling belief: Our collective voice can have a profound impact on New Jersey’s policy makers.