Committee to Protect Health Care Ends 16-Month Waxman Strategies Engagement

Why It Matters

The Committee to Protect Health Care ended its relationship with Waxman Strategies on December 31, 2025, with the LDA termination filing signed April 28, 2026. The lobbying disclosure termination covers the fourth quarter of 2025 and reflects the close of an engagement that began in August 2024.

Over the course of the relationship, Waxman Strategies billed the Committee $193,000, focused on health care costs, Medicare, and Medicaid. Quarterly fees rose from $22,000 in the third quarter of 2024 to $46,000 per quarter by mid-2025, making the Committee one of the firm's larger health care clients heading into the final stretch of the engagement.

Political Stakes

In the fourth quarter of 2025, Waxman Strategies reported $432,500 in total lobbying fees across 13 active client relationships. The Committee to Protect Health Care, at $46,000, ranked as the firm's second-largest health care client that quarter, behind only Electrify America LLC at $51,000 across all sectors. Other health care clients in that period included Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids at $45,000, 340B Health at $39,000, and the Gary and Mary West Health Institute Inc. at $25,000. The firm retains a full health care practice and a heavy energy and climate portfolio, so the departure of the Committee does not leave a significant gap.

The Committee did not appear to bring in a new outside lobbying firm to replace Waxman Strategies. According to LDA filings, the organization continued its in-house lobbying operation, with Dr. Rob Davidson handling federal advocacy on site-neutral payments. In-house spending rose from $30,000 per quarter in the second and third quarters of 2025 to $40,000 per quarter in the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, suggesting the organization shifted resources toward its own staff rather than outside counsel.

Broader Context

The Committee to Protect Health Care is a left-of-center 501(c)(4) organization that mobilizes physicians and health care advocates to defend and expand Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act. Its stated mission is to put "patients over profits." Waxman Strategies lobbied on its behalf on health care costs and Medicare and Medicaid policy throughout the engagement.

That work ran directly into one of the most consequential pieces of health care legislation in years. The reconciliation package known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" was signed into law in 2025 and included sweeping cuts to federal Medicaid and CHIP spending. The Georgetown Center for Children and Families reported gross federal Medicaid and CHIP cuts of $990 billion over ten years, with the Congressional Budget Office scoring total Medicaid reductions at over $1 trillion, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The Medicare Rights Center also flagged restrictions on Medicare eligibility and access to benefits in the legislation.

The legislation passed through a Republican-controlled Congress, and the Committee's core lobbying objectives, defending Medicaid and Medicare from cuts, did not prevail in that fight.

Congressional Mentions

The Committee to Protect Health Care appeared in 25 congressional hearings over the past year. Among the more notable mentions: Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) discussed HHS budget priorities and child care assistance programs in an April 2026 Committee on Education and Workforce hearing, and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) examined the nomination of Casey Means for Surgeon General in a February 2026 Senate HELP Committee hearing.

Legislation That Stayed Stuck

The SMART Prices Act, introduced in May 2025, would expand Medicare's drug price negotiation authority from 15 to 50 drugs by 2028, but remains pending in the Senate Finance Committee. The Lowering Health Care Costs for Americans Act, introduced in December 2025, would extend enhanced ACA premium tax credits through 2031, but has not advanced. None of the legislation directly tied to the Committee's lobbying priorities moved to passage during the Waxman Strategies engagement.

The Bottom Line

With no new outside firm appearing in LDA filings to replace Waxman Strategies, the Committee to Protect Health Care appears to be consolidating its federal lobbying under Dr. Rob Davidson, its in-house lobbyist. Davidson's filings show a focus on site-neutral payment policy, a narrower lane than the broader Medicare and Medicaid cost issues Waxman Strategies covered.

The lobbyist Waxman Strategies assigned to the Committee account was Jackson Thein, who previously served as a policy adviser to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) during the 118th Congress and held Senate staff positions across three consecutive congresses from 2019 through 2025. His background in Democratic Senate policy work aligned with the Committee's mission, but that alignment also reflects the firm's broader Democratic orientation, a factor with limited utility when the legislative fight is being decided by a Republican majority with the votes to pass a trillion-dollar Medicaid cut.

The Committee's decision to pull back from outside lobbying and lean on in-house staff comes as the organization's electoral and grassroots work, including its connected PAC, which raised more than $700,000 in the 2023-2024 cycle, may be taking on greater priority heading into the 2026 midterms.

Access the Legis1 platform for comprehensive political news, data, and insights.