The Hill News

Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich's healthcare think tank collected at least $37 million in consulting fees from healthcare companies and trade groups, further bringing into question claims by the former Speaker of the House that he never lobbied Congress on behalf of clients.

According to The Washington Post, firms like AstraZeneca and Blue Cross Blue Shield paid annual dues of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Center for Health Transformation, providing them access to Gingrich along with discounts on "products and workshops" offered by the Gingrich Group. 

The Center for Health Transformation also apparently advocated a seri! es of policies - including a mandate to buy health insurance for some Americans and a digitized central repository for medical records - that became cornerstones of the Obama administration's controversial healthcare reform package.

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