White House Affirms Deal on Drug Cost

(edited for copyright purposes-proud patriot moderator democratic underground)

Published on Thursday, August 6, 2009 by The New York Times
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/08/06-7

White House Affirms Deal on Drug Cost

by David D. Kirkpatrick



WASHINGTON — Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion.

Drug industry lobbyists reacted with alarm this week to a House health care overhaul measure that would allow the government to negotiate drug prices and demand additional rebates from drug manufacturers.

In response, the industry successfully demanded that the White House explicitly acknowledge for the first time that it had committed to protect drug makers from bearing further costs in the overhaul. The Obama administration had never spelled out the details of the agreement.

“We were assured: ‘We need somebody to come in first. If you come in first, you will have a rock-solid deal,’ ” Billy Tauzin, the former Republican House member from Louisiana who now leads the pharmaceutical trade group, said Wednesday. “Who is ever going to go into a deal with the White House again if they don’t keep their word? You are just going to duke it out instead.”

(snip

prescription drugs. Obama has folded and folded on health care reform. Now according to a reporter on NPR it is now health insurance reform, not health care reform. Sounds about right to me! And as was said on Oberlmann last night when they pass something shoddy just to get accolades today, they will lose all their credibility down the road. Obama could have become a great president on this legislation alone. He chose not to for whatever reason, maybe he is just too concilatory or maybe he's a corporate pawn or maybe he just wants something so he can get credit for health reform. I do not know. At least Bill Clinton came up with a truly monumental plan and tried to get it against insurmountable odds. The GOpers hated him with all their being. It was just not going to get by at that time. Obama could have gotten it, but if we actually get good health care reform now, which is unlikely, it will be despite Obama, not because of him.