Oh boy, once we get this health care bill through, Medicare can bargain for great drug prices--what a savings that will result in! Woo hoo!
Not so fast....
The White House won't confirm this deal, but Billy Tauzin seems confident:
If a package passes Congress, the pharmaceutical industry has pledged $80 billion in cost savings over 10 years to help pay for it. For his part, Tauzin said he had not only received the White House pledge to forswear Medicare drug price bargaining, but also a separate promise not to pursue another proposal Obama supported during the campaign: importing cheaper drugs from Canada or Europe. Both proposals could cost the industry billions, undermine its ability to develop new cures and, in the case of imports, possibly compromise safety, industry officials contend.
LA Times
Obama even ran an ad during his campaign, critical of Tauzin, says the LA Times. And IIRC, he wanted Medicare to negotiate better prices for medications.
Billy Tauzin, a former legislator, is Big Pharma's chief lobbyist.
But now, it seems Big Pharma is more like a big brother.
"I think the pharmaceutical industry has been quite constructive in this debate," Obama told a small group of regional reporters last week. "And the savings that they've put on the table are real and significant and are appreciated."
In just the last four months, the industry has spent $68 million on lobbying in Washington, assuring its continued standing atop the nation's lobbyist spending list.
I dearly, dearly hope that Mr. Tauzin is flat out wrong, because I had presumed that Medicare could once again negotiate for fair drug prices under Obama. That was one of those rules that Bush made, and I was hopping mad when I heard it. I expect the negotiating ability in a final bill.
It is simply unbelievable that we would give away our ability to negotiate for better drug prices. I don't care if they say they will save us a gazillion dollars over the next however many years, if Big Pharma wants this, it is not good for America.
alerted to this story at huffpo.
jason linkins