America's Healthcare Is Broken Enough: We Don't Need Bad Journalists Making It Worse

America’s healthcare system is already a mess — bloated, bureaucratic, and built for just about everyone except the patients. But as if that weren’t bad enough, we now have to contend with another major problem: bad actors peddling junk science in our nation’s media. And too often, reporters fall for it, hook, line, and sinker.

It’s hard enough for everyday Americans to navigate insurance red tape, rising premiums, and sky-high drug prices. What we don’t need is a coordinated effort to mislead the public with so-called “independent research” that’s secretly backed by Big Pharma. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s happening — and mainstream media outlets are giving these actors a megaphone.

Take the case of 46brooklyn Research, a small nonprofit in Ohio that bills itself as an independent voice exposing the problems with pharmacy benefit managers. On the surface, they seem like data-driven watchdogs. Their research has been featured in publications like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Reuters.

But dig a little deeper, and the story starts to stink.

An investigation by The Washington Examiner revealed that 46brooklyn isn’t exactly the plucky underdog it pretends to be. It’s a nonprofit front for a for-profit consultancy called 3 Axis Advisors, a firm with deep financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Multiple members of 46brooklyn’s leadership have direct financial stakes in drug manufacturing and pharmacy chains. In other words, their so-called “independent research” is anything but.

Despite this, 46brooklyn’s data has been widely cited as evidence that PBMs are the real villains in drug pricing — conveniently shifting blame away from drug manufacturers themselves. That narrative fits nicely into Big Pharma’s agenda, and mainstream media outlets have swallowed it whole, without disclosing the group’s clear conflicts of interest.

This isn’t a one-off mistake. It’s part of a disturbing pattern.

In the early 2000s, so-called “research” on the antidepressant Paxil claimed it was safe for teens. A significant portion of that research was later found to be ghostwritten by pharmaceutical company employees, and the drug was linked to severe risks — including suicide — for adolescents. Yet mainstream news outlets, trusting the research, had already given it glowing coverage.

More recently, the Cochrane Collaboration — a group long regarded as a gold standard for medical reviews — was exposed by Nature for having industry ties that may have influenced its supposedly neutral summaries of clinical trials. Still, Cochrane is routinely cited as a reliable source in outlets like The Guardian.

And let’s not forget the broader track record of the mainstream media. These aren’t the same journalists who once questioned the establishment — they are the establishment. Just look at how they handled major news stories that turned out to be misleading or flat-out wrong. From the Russia collusion narrative to the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, the media has repeatedly failed to provide the public with unbiased, fact-based reporting. The New York Post was censored for reporting on a story that turned out to be true, while corporate media dismissed it as misinformation. Why? Because it didn’t fit their narrative.

Or take the lab-leak theory of COVID-19’s origins. Once dismissed as a fringe conspiracy theory, it’s now widely acknowledged as a plausible explanation — even by former skeptics. Yet for over a year, the media demonized anyone who dared to suggest it. This wasn’t just about being wrong. It was about controlling the narrative and discrediting dissent.

The point is simple: The American healthcare system is already riddled with problems. But when journalists fail to do their homework or let their biases dictate their judgement, they allow bad actors to make those problems even worse. This misinformation doesn’t just mislead readers; it warps policy debates and distracts from real solutions. And at the end of the day, it’s patients who suffer.

Healthcare is too complex and too important to allow lazy reporting or astroturf PR to shape public opinion. When fake watchdogs like 46brooklyn are allowed to masquerade as neutral analysts, it pollutes the public square and helps no one but the same corporations who’ve been driving up costs for years.

Journalists must do better. It’s their responsibility to vet sources, ask hard questions, and follow the money. When they fail to do so, they don’t just get the story wrong — they become part of the problem. The public deserves better than a press that acts as an unknowing mouthpiece for special interests.

Lori Klein is a former Arizona State Senator who previously was a member on the Committee on Appropriations and chaired the Subcommittee on Healthcare.