As Hillary Clinton ramps up her campaign attacks on the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries, three of the largest companies in both sectors met with her husband at a Clinton Foundation conference in California the week before the Iowa caucus.
Humana, a major health insurance corporation, and Sanofi and AstraZeneca, two major drug companies, were all sponsors of the “Health Matters Summit” hosted by the Clinton Foundation earlier this week. Bill Clinton presided over the event, which came on the heels of a PGA golf tournament in La Quinta, Calif. this weekend that was also sponsored in part by the foundation.
The former president took a break from his new role as a campaign surrogate for his wife to attend the pair of high-profile events, which were designed to raise money for the Clinton Health Matters Initiative, one of many projects under the Clinton Foundation’s philanthropic umbrella.
The event unfolded as scrutiny of the charity’s activities heats up ahead of the Democratic primaries. Donors have felt torn between competing fundraising pleas from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and from the foundation, according to a report Thursday from Politico.
Hillary Clinton’s political rhetoric has occasionally clashed with the foundation’s long list of contributors, which include big Wall Street banks and even foreign governments.
Her recent push to crack down on the high cost of prescription drugs by imposing regulations on the pharmaceutical industry has conflicted with the fact that she has accepted six-figure speaking fees from groups in the industry and that drug corporations have heavily supported her husband’s foundation.
Officials with the philanthropic giant are reportedly considering a reduction in fundraising activities to avoid drawing focus away from Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House this year.
The Clinton Foundation’s decision to accept generous contributions from foreign donors while Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state haunted her campaign when it launched last spring and has threatened to re-emerge as a 2016 issue amid a handful of reports suggesting the charity did not properly report all of the overseas contributions.
On the campaign trail, Clinton has repeatedly attempted to paint herself as an “enemy” of the very health insurance and drug companies her husband has courted for their family foundation.
