Lobbying

The machine

FAH reported $3.57 million of federal lobbying in 2025, its highest year since 2019, and $1.91 million through the third quarter of 2026. Four in-house lobbyists are registered, including the CEO. Five outside firms are on retainer in 2026. Three others were dropped at the turn of the year, and BGR Government Affairs was added in January. The figures are FAH's own quarterly Senate filings, which already include what it pays the firms.

Record as of November 6, 2026

01 · Annual spending

Federal lobbying by year (Senate filings)

Year	Reported spending
2018	$2,610,000
2019	$3,570,000
2020	$2,590,000
2021	$2,440,000
2022	$2,800,000
2023	$2,523,000
2024	$2,380,000
2025	$3,565,000
2026 through September 30, 2026	$1,910,000

Four registered in-house lobbyists on the Q3 2026 filing.

02 · Retained firms

Outside firms on retainer

Firm	2025	2026 to date	Issues	Notable
Avoq	$240,000	$300,000	Medicare and Medicaid hospital payment; physician-owned hospitals; site-neutral payments; ACA premium tax credits	Steven Elmendorf (chief of staff to House Democratic Leader Gephardt); Bill Ghent (chief of staff to Sen. Carper); Lindsey Seidman (deputy staff director, Senate HELP)
BGR Government Affairs	Not retained	$240,000	Health policy and hospitals; registered January 15, 2026	Robb Walton (health counsel to Sen. Cassidy); Remy Mason (Sen. Murray's HELP staff; Sen. Warren); James Williams (White House Domestic Policy Council)
Marshall & Popp	$240,000	$180,000	Medicaid funding; site-neutral; price transparency; cybersecurity; rural extenders; ACA subsidies	Hazen Marshall (policy director to Majority Leader McConnell); Monica Popp (chief of staff to Whip Cornyn)
Welsh Rose	$200,000	$150,000	Implementation of the 2025 reconciliation law on Medicare and Medicaid; premium tax credits; No Surprises Act; hospital transparency	Kristin Welsh (deputy health policy director, Senate Finance); Kate Rose (Sen. Rockefeller health staff)
Capitol Tax Partners	$40,000	$30,000	Corporate tax and tax issues affecting for-profit hospitals	Rick Grafmeyer (Joint Committee on Taxation); Katherine Monge (counsel to Speaker Pelosi)
Miller Strategies	$540,000	Terminated Dec. 31, 2025	Medicare and Medicaid hospital payment	Jonathan Hiler (legislative affairs director to Vice President Pence); Ashley Gunn (White House Cabinet Affairs)
Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies	$160,000	$50,000 on the Q1 report; $20,000 on the termination report; terminated Jan. 30, 2026	Medicaid and premium tax credits	Alexandra Campau (White House health policy; House Budget Committee)
Invariant	$0 reported	Terminated July 1, 2026	None listed on 2025 and 2026 reports; $240,000 in 2024	Christopher Gillott (deputy chief of staff to Sen. Cassidy)

03 · The revolving door

From government to the hospital lobby

At least 27 people lobbying for FAH in 2026, in-house or at its retained firms, came from Congress or the White House. The CEO came from a Democratic whip's office. The head of government relations ran a Senate HELP health subcommittee before a decade at Merck. The retained firms supply former staff to Majority Leader McConnell, Whip Cornyn, Sen. Cassidy, Sen. Murray, Speaker Pelosi and the Senate Finance Committee. Names and prior posts come from the covered-position fields on Senate lobbying filings and the firms' own bios.

Name	Now	Before
Charlene MacDonald	FAH President and CEO; in-house lobbyist	Senior policy advisor to House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer; nearly a decade of House and Senate policy posts
Elizabeth Schwartz	FAH SVP, Head of Government Relations; in-house lobbyist	Health Subcommittee staff director, Senate HELP (Sen. Enzi); Sen. Ron Johnson health policy; then Merck
Rebecca Heilig Lira	FAH SVP, Government Relations; in-house lobbyist	White House Office of Public Liaison; Rep. Steve Scalise; Republican National Committee
Christina McCauley	FAH VP, Government Relations; in-house lobbyist	Policy adviser to Sen. Cortez Masto; legislative director to Rep. Matsui
Paul Eiting	FAH VP, Policy	Office of Rep. Paul Ryan; later AHIP and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
Chip Kahn	Retired FAH CEO; AEI visiting senior fellow (secondary sources)	Health aide to Sen. Quayle; health policy advisor to Sen. Durenberger
Hazen Marshall	Marshall & Popp	Policy director to Majority Leader McConnell; staff director, Senate Budget Committee
Monica Popp	Marshall & Popp	Chief of staff to Whip John Cornyn; House Energy and Commerce staff
Kristin Welsh	Welsh Rose	Deputy health policy director, Senate Finance (Sen. Hatch); Senate HELP health advisor
Kate Rose	Welsh Rose	Health legislative assistant to Sen. Rockefeller; senior health advisor to Rep. Allyson Schwartz
Steven Elmendorf	Avoq	Chief of staff to House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt
Bill Ghent	Avoq	Chief of staff to Sen. Tom Carper, 2015 to 2019
Lindsey Seidman	Avoq	Republican deputy staff director, Senate HELP; Senate Appropriations Labor-HHS clerk
Sandra Alcala	Avoq	Chief of staff to Rep. Filemon Vela; House Democratic Caucus member services
Caitlin Canter	Avoq	Deputy chief of staff to Rep. Devin Nunes
Rick Grafmeyer	Capitol Tax Partners	Deputy chief of staff, Joint Committee on Taxation; Senate Finance deputy staff director
Katherine Monge	Capitol Tax Partners	Senior counsel to Speaker Nancy Pelosi; tax counsel to Sen. Ben Cardin
Robb Walton	BGR Government Affairs	Senior health policy advisor and counsel to Sen. Bill Cassidy; Senate HELP staff
Remy Mason	BGR Government Affairs	Senate HELP FDA policy advisor (Sen. Murray); health advisor to Sen. Warren
Chris Kelly	BGR Government Affairs	Health policy director to Sen. Marsha Blackburn
James Williams	BGR Government Affairs	White House Domestic Policy Council; Council of Economic Advisers
William Crozer	BGR Government Affairs (on the 2026 registration)	Special Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs
Daniel Farmer	BGR Government Affairs	Legislative director to Rep. Zack Space; staff to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Alexandra Campau	Cozen O'Connor (dropped Jan. 2026)	White House health policy; House Budget Committee; Senate Republican Policy Committee
Jonathan Hiler	Miller Strategies (dropped Dec. 2025)	Legislative affairs director to Vice President Pence; legislative director to Sen. Cotton
Ashley Gunn	Miller Strategies (dropped Dec. 2025)	Special Assistant to the President, White House Cabinet Affairs
Lucas Wallwork	Miller Strategies (dropped Dec. 2025)	Deputy chief of staff to Rep. Tom Reed; legislative director to Rep. Greg Murphy

04 · Dark money

Partnership for America's Health Care Future

The Partnership for America's Health Care Future is the dark-money coalition FAH founded with the insurers' and drugmakers' lobbies in June 2018. Its purpose: stop Medicare for All and a public option. It is a 501(c)(4), so its donors are secret. Its Form 990s show $99.6 million spent from 2018 through 2024, with $55.4 million raised in 2019 alone. Chip Kahn, then FAH's CEO, was its secretary and then its president through 2024. It is still posting statements in November 2026, now against a public option, and its members page is blank.

June 2018

Founded

Not published

Member organizations

$99.6M

Spent since founding (Form 990)

Active

Status in 2026

Year	Revenue	Expenses
2018	$5,127,650	$3,733,638
2019	$55,401,022	$20,315,258
2020	$18,582,328	$39,638,967
2021	$5,300,000	$17,227,503
2022	$7,970,285	$9,341,851
2023	$7,113,653	$6,404,617
2024	$2,140,851	$2,953,060

Sources