Dems Target Rogers Over Pharma Money, Health Care Record

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 09/25/2026) Democrats are making Mike Rogers’ congressional health care voting record and campaign contributions from pharmaceutical and insurance interests a key line of attack as they try to draw a contrast between the Republican and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.

Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel said Rogers has received more than $1 million from pharmaceutical interests and voted against "the opportunity to lower costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices."

Hertel also portrayed Rogers as the "congressional face" of the opioid industry's legislative agenda, saying that he led the advocacy in Washington to loosen regulations and expand access to opioids. He didn't just pull from his congressional record, he also pointed to his time in the state Senate, saying he voted to shield "Big Pharma . . . making it harder to sue to avoid epidemic damages."

"There's a reason why we call him Price Hike Mike," Hertel said. "Because whenever he had to choose between lowering costs for Michigan families or padding the profits of his corporate donors, he chose his donors every single time."

The same argument extended to insurance companies, with Hertel pointing to hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from insurance interests to his campaign and political committees, also calling out his votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Rep. Carrie Rheingans (D-Ann Arbor) focused heavily on Rogers’ ACA record, saying his past votes and current health care proposals would represent a step backward in preventive care and coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.

"He wants to drag Michigan back to an era of pre-existing condition denials, meaning that you would be one diagnosis away from financial ruin," Rheingans said. "And once again, Mike Rogers' agenda wouldn't save money for everyday families. It would raise costs, destabilize coverage."

Rheingans highlighted the ACA requirement that insurers cover certain preventive services without out-of-pocket costs, including physicals, blood pressure and diabetes screenings, mammograms, cancer screenings and vaccines.

“When preventive care is free at the point of service, people actually use it,” Rheingans said, arguing adding costs to routine care would lead some people to delay screenings, allowing illnesses to go undetected longer.

She also criticized Rogers’ support for high-risk pools as an alternative for people with pre-existing conditions, describing the pre-ACA pools as a documented failure, chronically underfunded and costly for patients.

The Democratic attacks come as Rogers is promoting his own health care agenda, “Healthcare That Works for Working Families,” which focuses on requiring hospitals and insurers to publicly disclose prices, expanding access to TrumpRx and lower-cost generic drugs and requiring insurers to report denial rates, approval times and appeal outcomes. Rogers also proposes penalties for insurers with excessive delays or denials.

Rogers’ campaign pushed back on the attacks, arguing El-Sayed’s Medicare for All proposal would increase taxes and disrupt existing coverage while pointing to Rogers’ support for Medicare Part D.

“Democrats are in total disarray because Michiganders know Abdul will bankrupt Medicare, raise their taxes 4x, and take away their doctor. Meanwhile, Mike made clear in his ad about taking on Big Pharma, hospital monopolies, and insurers that he’s not doing anyone’s bidding but Michiganders’," Alyssa Brouillet, communications director for Rogers, said.

She referred to this ad from Rogers:

“Mike Rogers will make healthcare more affordable, including by lowering prescription drug prices—and he has the record to prove it,” Brouillet said. "In Congress, Mike championed Medicare Part D to support over 1.2 million Michigan seniors.”

Meanwhile, Democrats said El-Sayed would support expanding access to health care, lowering prescription drug costs and confronting pharmaceutical and insurance companies, repeatedly framing health care as a right rather than a privilege.

Jill Murphy from Macomb County spoke during the call about her pre-existing condition. She described relying on Medicaid before moving to an ACA marketplace plan.

Murphy said maintaining coverage felt like a second job, that she spent hours coordinating among insurers, doctors and pharmacies to keep medications covered and was forced to search for a new plan last year after learning hers would no longer be offered.

“Having predictable, reliable healthcare is essential. Essential, not a luxury,” Murphy said.