Reply #4: If true, this is self-destructive [View All]

>>But last January, the White House made a Faustian bargain with Big Pharma and Big Insurance, essentially scuttling both of these profit-squeezing mechanisms in return for these industries' agreement not to oppose healthcare legislation with platoons of lobbyists and millions of dollars of TV ads, and Pharma's willingness to cut drug prices by some $80 billion over the next ten years. The White House promised these industries they'd come out way ahead -- getting tens of millions of new customers who'd be buying private health insurance policies and thereby paying for an almost endless supply of new drugs. Healthcare reform would be, in short, a bonanza.<<

They probably thought they were pursuing a pragmatic strategy, if this is true. But are they really as worried about failing that they made a promise that essentially is a huge giveaway to insurance companies and a overall blow to the average American citizen?