One of Their Top Executives Was Gunned Down in Manhattan. Five Months Later, the Industry Partied Seven Blocks Away. It Was a Revealing Night.

The 2025 PRWeek Healthcare Awards was a celebration of the sector that crafts the public’s perception of pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, health care insurers and care providers.

Frida Ghitis : It had not been the best year ever for the health care industry.

She says the industry needs to learn from the PR industry, which is one of the “biggest, most dynamic, innovative and important and important” industries.

Ghitis says the event was held just nine weeks after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered.

In 2000 , total health expenditures in America reached $1.4 trillion ; by 2023 that amount had more than tripled to $4.9 trillion .

In 2023 , according to one Harris Poll survey, more than 70 percent of U.S. adults reported feeling that the health care system was failing to meet their needs in at least one way.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pledged to banish big pharma from television advertising.

Donna Brazile : The health care industry is facing a challenging moment.

She says the industry has to be more aggressive in addressing issues such as mental health.

Brazile says Cigna , the biggest and best-represented health insurer at the event, did not take home the award for Best Mental Health .