Third Way, the centrist group that is launching a $15 million campaign to fight the left wing of the Democratic Party, is being funded by health care industry interests that have long opposed one of the left’s primary goals: Medicare for All.
The group—which does not disclose its funders publicly, leaving only glimpses into its corporate benefactors—recently told the New York Times that it will spend to combat the influence of democratic socialists in Democratic Party, in response to a wave of primary election wins by progressives. Jonathan Cowan, the group’s president, said Third Way is “preparing for war” against candidates like those who support Medicare for All.
Third Way announced its plans on the heels of Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s win last week in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary after he advocated for Medicare for All, a main campaign plank, for nearly a decade. The group says it plans to target El-Sayed as part of its efforts, accusing him of “flirting with democratic socialists.”
One newly-surfaced donor to Third Way is the industry group Better Solutions for Healthcare (BSFH), composed of health insurance lobbying giant AHIP, BlueCross BlueShield, and other insurance trade groups. The group BSFH made its first donation of $50,000 to Third Way’s advocacy arm in 2024, according to its most recent tax filing, its only disclosed donation made that year.
BSFH is run out of the offices of leading Republican digital and strategy firm Targeted Victory in Arlington, according to tax records. The group was formed by Republican operative Alexander Schriver, Targeted Victory’s head of public affairs and BSFH’s past executive director, and has paid millions of dollars to the GOP firm for advertising in recent years. In 2023, Schriver headed out to become senior vice president of public affairs at the lobbying behemoth PhRMA, which co-founded an industry campaign to spike Medicare for All. BSFH is currently led by Targeted Victory’s president, Connie Partoyan, also a former Republican staffer.
In July 2024, Third Way led a coalition letter supporting one of BSFH’s top priorities in Congress, legislation to expand site-neutral payment policies at clinics. Third Way has long opposed proposals for Medicare for All, and earlier this year unveiled its plans to push Democratic presidential candidates away from a single-payer system and instead embrace its package of centrist health policies—mentioning site-neutral payment policies as part of its policy agenda.
Other major health insurance companies, Big Pharma firms, and insurance industry lobbying groups continue donating to Third Way, according to a Sludge review of their disclosures.
