A Question to those Outraged by Pharma Deal
So if deal with the pharmaceutical companies is so outrageous where were you when President Obama announced it way back on June 22.
MSNBC
MSNBC
Hailed by President Barack Obama, a multi-billion-dollar promise by drug companies to narrow a Medicare drug coverage gap for seniors is valid only if Congress succeeds in passing a comprehensive health care bill encountering strong opposition from Republicans, an industry spokesman said Monday.
The commitment was "made in the context of comprehensive health care reform being enacted," said Ken Johnson, senior vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. "We recognize that there has to be a shared commitment if this is going to happen and this is our part of it."
The industry sealed a weekend deal with the White House and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee, to spend $80 billion over the next decade defraying the cost of drugs for seniors and paying a portion of the cost of Obama's legislation. The president, in an appearance Monday at the White House, said the agreement was "a significant breakthrough on the road to health care reform, one that will make a difference in the lives of many older Americans."
I'm just a little curious, is it because the NYTimes worded it in such a way as to sound like it was some nefarious secret deal? Obviously it wasn't.
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Oh, and just where in that description did it state that there was a limit on the amount that the health care legislation could cost Big Pharma?
What was clear was that Obama claimed to be leaving the details to Congress -- not that he had pledged to Big Pharma to limit the cost to them if they would be the first interest group to express support.
And he had them do their negotiating with Sen. Baucus.
It's a mess.
August 6, 2009 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
On Obama and Big Pharma:
I know that progressive-types lied themselves into believing that the just-right-of-middle-of-the-road, corporatist Senator from the Great State of Illinois was one of them BUT selling out does not apply to folk already bought by an industry and a dogma of corporate supremacy. President Obama is not We, the People,’s President. He is just not single-minded, knee-jerk recessivist.
President Obama's devil deal with the insurance industry means that Big Pharma will shell out a total of $80 billion in kick-backs for the next five to eight years while not ever having to face the US Government ever being able to negoiate prices with them.
In short, We, the People, just got screwed.
August 6, 2009 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
When did Obama get authorization from the House to say that Pharma would only be on the hook for a max of $80 billion (chump change in the long haul, and only if the bill passes)? He didn't according to Pelosi. Pelosi denied she was bound by the back room deal. The reason this is a big story now is whereas in June the industry spokesperson was saying the deal was only good if passed by Congress, now they are claiming with the White House support that a deal is a deal and no healthcare reform bill can exceed the maximum agreed to by the president.
I thought the agreement was BS in June. Now? He is standing up to protect the Pharma deal yet he will not make clear that he won't sign a bill without a REAL public option. I never bought into the whole challenging the special interests PR from the campaign, but I seriously never thought Obama would be this blatantly diametrically opposed to the principles he ran on.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/the-white-house-deal-with_b_252696.html
August 6, 2009 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not to mention Obama himself in July 2009 (after this so called firm deal was set in stone) was still publicly talking about seeking more cost cuts from Pharam specifically. Overlooked question from his press conference, he responded we may be able to get $100 billion from them or more.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/business/23pharma.html
So yeah, today's NYT story is a step forward in the debate in a very bad direction.
August 6, 2009 6:07 PM | Reply | Permalink