Democrats Say No to Cost Cap for Drug Makers

Democrats Say No to Cost Cap for Drug Makers

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: August 6, 2009


WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats said Thursday that they intended to push the Obama administration to back away from its deal with the drug industry to cap its share of the costs in a health care overhaul.

A spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she stood by her position that the House was not bound by any such agreement. Ms. Pelosi supports House efforts “to squeeze more money out of the system, including from the pharmaceutical industry,” her spokesman, Nadeam Elshami, said in a statement.

Representative Henry A. Waxman, the California Democrat who heads the Energy and Commerce Committee and helped write the House health care bill, vowed to fight the White House, asserting that it was conceding too much to the powerful drug industry lobby, PhRMA.

“PhRMA would like to see if they can get a bargain,” Mr. Waxman said. “I think that PhRMA should contribute more than PhRMA wants to contribute.”

Under pressure from drug industry lobbyists, the White House for the first time Wednesday clarified its commitment to a behind-the-scenes deal negotiated by the Senate Finance Committee in June. It would limit the drug makers’ share of the cost of a health care overhaul to a total of $80 billion over 10 years without imposing other savings sought by House Democrats, like the government’s negotiation of prices for the drugs it buys under Medicare.

Alarmed at the reports of the deal, Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat who has championed such drug price negotiations, said he had pressed the issue in a private meeting with Jim Messina, a White House deputy chief of staff involved in the talks, and came away reassured that there was no such agreement barring a push for the government negotiation of drug prices.

Mr. Brown said: “I asked them if there was a White House deal. On direct negotiations, they said no.” He added, “I planned no matter what they said to push to continue to try to do that.”

Senator Richard J. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, also told Bloomberg television that White House officials had said the deal did not preclude extracting further cost cuts from the drug makers. “I don’t think any, if many, of us feel bound by any understanding or agreement along those lines,” Mr. Durbin said.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/health/policy/07lobby.html?ref=us

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/health/policy/06insure.html?sq=tauzin&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print

August 6, 2009
White House Affirms Deal on Drug Cost
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

snip:
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:
A deputy White House chief of staff, Jim Messina, confirmed Mr. Tauzin’s account of the deal in an e-mail message on Wednesday night.

“The president encouraged this approach,” Mr. Messina wrote. “He wanted to bring all the parties to the table to discuss health insurance reform.”

The new attention to the agreement could prove embarrassing to the White House, which has sought to keep lobbyists at a distance, including by refusing to hire them to work in the administration.

they are the opposite the old Harry and Louise...you can see it here..it is 100% paid for by Big Pharma..now why would that be??????????

see it here on the Bill Moyers show..

I have seen it running on the Philly South NJ local networks..

Big Pharma will be getting major profit from their most expensive drugs..

god forbid you need the cancer drugs!

oh and you will most likely be mandated to buy this insurance ..........



http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07242009/watch.html

TRUDY LIEBERMAN: I feel the American people need to know what is in that bill. And what's in the bill is an individual mandate that is going to require all Americans with a few exceptions, to carry health insurance. And that means if you do not get insurance from Medicare or Medicaid or your employer. You're going to have to go out and buy health insurance.

And that is a lot of money for most people because most of them would buy it now if they could afford it. About 85 percent of the uninsured require subsidies, because they can't afford it. And I think this is going to come up as a big surprise to people to realize they're going to have to buy insurance from private insurance companies or face a tax penalty.

MARCIA ANGELL: Well, that goes to the cause of the problem. We are the only advanced country in the world that has chosen to leave health care to the tender mercies of a panoply of for-profit businesses, whose purpose is to maximize income and not to provide health. And that's exactly what they do.

BILL MOYERS: The President, as you were saying a moment ago, is saying to everybody who's not covered, we're going to mandate that you exercise that right. We're going to mandate that you buy some form--

MARCIA ANGELL: We're going to deliver the private insurance companies a captive market. That's right. And they love that.

BILL MOYERS: Say that again.

MARCIA ANGELL: They love that.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

what do I want? I want real reform..not this Phony piece of garbage being shoved down our throats and written by big Pharm and the corporate whores that run the Insurance companies that are being supported by congress and the White House and selling all of us out!!



Here is an example of what i want......i want greed out of health insurance for all, i want the congress critters of both parties to be exposed for being on the "take" from huge insurance CEO"s and their lobbies,..I want .....Single -Payer national health insurance system in America.

I want expanded and improved Medicare for all !

I do not want the president to be doing "secret deals" with big Pharma in the White House, in "my House" that are fucking "we the people " on the medications some so desparately need for survivial, and can't afford, Giving BIG PHARMA a special "DEAL" OF "extra years" before the most expensive drugs go generic and guarenteeing Big Pharma that the most expensive drugs never go under new reform or controls to protect "we the people".
AND THE WHITE HOUSE MAKING A DEAL TO KEEP CHEAPER DRUGS FROM BEING IMPORTED FROM CANADA.

I have lived in Canada , I know how inexpensive meds are compared to the USA..I know because I used to buy all my meds there..for 22 years!

I have and my children have been in Canadian Hospitals. I have done volunteer work in The Hospital for Sick Children in Canada and many American kids with horrible diseases are there , because they can't get the care in the USA! Is national health care in Canada perfect..no ...is that possible..I don't think so..nothing is perfect...is it perfect in Britian, or France or Germany?..no..but what is so damn perfect in our system?????? Not a damn thing! But people in those countries go to bed at night knowing they and their families can get health care without bankrupting their families and losing all financial security they work for. And as for research ..Canada has made many discoveries our Big Corps have as well.
I have a friend who had a heart transplant in Canada who would not have been able to afford such, in the USA under our health system!



I want real reform , not this phony crap being shoved down our throats!



I want the lies to stop and truth to be known to the American people of what they are and are not supporting!



I want single payer that is real..Reform!



I want what this man has written about..

written by :

Larry Pius, Dir.

HR676.org, Inc.



*Every resident of the US will be fully covered from birth to death.

*No more pre-existing conditions to be excluded from coverage.

*No more expensive deductibles or co-pays.

*All prescription medications will be covered.

*All dental and eye care will be included.

*Mental health and substance abuse care will be fully covered.

*Long term and nursing home services will be included.



Actually the only thing we need to fear is the major health insurance corporations themselves because for generations they have been stewards of a health insurance system under which thousands die yearly due to lack of access to the system itself and millions of families, even many families covered by their policies, go bankrupt due to medical bills yet their only concern remains the size of their profits and the dividends to their investors.





And here are some additional benefits…



*You will always choose your own doctors and hospitals.

*Costs of coverage will be assessed on a sliding scale basis.

*Tremendously simplified system of single-payer medical administration.

*Total portability – your coverage not tied to any job or location.

*Existing Medicare benefits for those over 65 will be vastly improved.

*No corporate bureaucrat will ever come between you and your Doctor to deny your care.

*No American family will ever again be forced into bankruptcy by medical bills.



That's what i want !

I want real health care reform ! I want Single - Payer national health insurance system..that represents all of us , not just the CEO's of BIG PHARM and the insurance companies..I want we the people not to be sold out!



Please go to this web site and sign on!

http://www.hr676.org /

fly


Oh and as for the racial slurs, that are vulgar beyond words..I am married to a dual minority and as such my children are dual minorities..I find your racist remarks deplorable! One would think at this point intelligent people would realize this method of intimidation, has been abused and exhausted . It in itself is racist.
Facts have nothing to do with ethnicity.

that the White House sold us out with Big Pharm ..and who else for that matter??????

I think this is well stated!!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/8/763589/-Progressive-activists-are-f

Progressive activists are "f^cking stupid"?

Hey Rahm, kiss my f^cking uninsured ass
by blueintheface


Fucking stupid is cutting a deal with pharmaceutical companies that leaves potential cost savings on the table without getting them to put their entire weight behind the reform effort to help get it past. Did they really think trotting out Harry and Louise again was going to have the same effect 15 years later? Sorry, but their anti-reform replacements have already taken up their mantle and the insurance industry is playing the fear card this time around through their astroturfing acolytes.

Which is why I think I think it's fucking stupid to let the poster child for healthcare industry greed and sleaze frame the healthcare reform debate. Rick Scott's company paid out almost $2Billion in fines for over-billing and defrauding the government and his story isn't blasted after every Conservatives for Patients Rights ad? Talk about bringing a knife to a gun fight. Why is it that we have to rely on Rick Sanchez to take this asshole down, and why wasn't Scott's past and motivation exposed by the White House and their allies months ago?

Ignoring his own playbook, a knife is all Emanuel is bringing to this fight. And he's using it to threaten the wrong people. Talk about being fucking stupid. How smart is it to throw your support behind the Democratic representatives who brag about killing healthcare reform while leaving your allies who have been working diligently to face violent mobs spewing lies and hyperbole fomented by the well-monied anti-reform insurance company insiders?



ps..to the poster who was deleted..to infer I am not a democrat..I have been an "ELECTED DEMOCRAT" IN MY STATE AND COUNTY.. Have you ever been elected in the Democratic party? And furthermore..I was elected because I told the truth..I have worked endless days and hours for minority causes.I have worked at removing bogus voting machines in my state and have worked in 9 states for different Democratic candidates, and I have fought diligently for truth about 9/11. To infer I am not a democrat comes from your own internal struggles ..not mine!
I am sorry you find truth such a struggle.

from Huffington post

Ryan Grim

White House Confirms: Deal With Big Pharma Bars Price Negotiations

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/07/white-house-confirms-deal_n_254408.html

snip:
Earlier in the week, there were reports that Obama had promised to oppose any congressional attempt to exact further money from the massive pharmaceutical industry, which would include allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prices or import cheaper drugs from Canada -- two major priorities for congressional Democrats.

In a Thursday meeting with Senate Democrats, some of those present thought the White House backed off that deal. The administration has now stepped in to clear up its position: Congress can vote to do those things -- just not as part of the health-care overhaul legislation.

The White House said on Friday that drug price negotiations did not specifically come up in talks with Big Pharma. Because such negotiations would take the deal past $80 billion, however, they're off limits, as is reimportation of cheaper drugs from Canada.

White House spokesman Reid Cherlin confirmed that despite Thursday's uncertainty the deal outlined in the New York Times still stands.

Of course, as the White House acknowledges, senators are free to push for drug-price negotiations or reimportation, but they may have to do so without administration support and, certainly, in the face of Big Pharma opposition.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

a "thank you" to slipslidingaway for this from the following post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6248932

Obama gives powerful drug lobby a seat at healthcare table

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-na-healthcare...

"...At the same time, Tauzin said the industry he represents was offering political and financial support for the president's healthcare initiative, a remarkable shift considering that drug companies vigorously opposed a national overhaul the last time it was proposed, when Bill Clinton was president...

The benefits to the White House go beyond budget savings. Tauzin's trade association, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, is helping to underwrite a multimillion-dollar TV advertising campaign touting comprehensive healthcare legislation.

One ad resurrects Harry and Louise, the fictional couple whose caustic kitchen-table comments in ads sponsored by the health insurance industry helped sink Clinton's plan in 1994. This time, with the drug companies paying the bill, Harry and Louise have changed their view...

Tauzin, a Democrat who helped found the conservative Blue Dog coalition in the House before switching to the Republican Party in 1995, was chairman of the House committee that helped shepherd Medicare drug legislation through Congress, including the provision that the government not interfere with price negotiations..."


AHIP also is running commercials in support of health care reform...insurance companies will cover pre-existing conditions if there is a mandate that everyone purchase insurance.




xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/41552

CREW V. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (WHITE HOUSE VISITOR LOGS - HEALTH CARE EXECS)

22 Jul 2009 // Washington, D.C. - Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is filing a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security based on the refusal of the Secret Service to provide CREW with White House visitor records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). CREW is seeking records of visits by top health care executives in an effort to learn the extent to which these industry players may have influenced the administration’s health care policy. Simultaneously, CREW is requesting emergency relief in the form of a preliminary injunction compelling the Secret Service to process the request on an expedited basis, in view of the great public interest and debate on health care policy and the pressure on Congress to pass legislation before the August recess.

In response to CREW’s FOIA request, the Obama administration has taken the same position as the Bush administration that the records are presidential, not agency records, and that they are exempt from release because of the possibility in some instances they could reveal information protected by the presidential communications privilege. Although the White House suggested it was reviewing its policy on the release of visitor logs last month when CREW filed a similar complaint based on its request for records of visits by top coal company executives, it has to date refused to make even a discretionary release of any of the requested records. Every court to rule on the issue so far has concluded the visitor records are agency records that must be disclosed under the FOIA.

what they fear most is a single-payer system that has real bargaining power.

Now that they have made a deal they can support the reform bill.

:(

"...Tauzin said PhRMA's support for Obama's initiative represented no shift in the industry's basic philosophy.

"Our principles haven't changed, but we are looking at a different situation today," he said. "There's an opportunity now to get a health bill passed that doesn't provide for government control of healthcare. We are participating as fully as we can now because we see an economic and moral imperative to do something when so many millions of people don't have access to healthcare."


More from the Moyers' show...

"BILL MOYERS: But he's also said, if we were starting the system from scratch, we could have single payer. But we're not starting this system from scratch.

MARCIA ANGELL: You know, you don't pour more money into a failing system. You convert.

BILL MOYERS: I saw back in the spring-- the chief lobbyist for the Big Pharma industry, Billy Tauzin, used to be a member of Congress. He was on CNBC. And he was in support of this bill, whatever this bill is. Because it would broaden the industry's customer base by providing subsidies for people to buy--

MARCIA ANGELL: Exactly.

BILL MOYERS: More coverage from the private insurers.

TRUDY LIEBERMAN: At whatever price they want to charge. It will be a bonanza for the health insurance industry. And a bonanza for the pharmaceutical industry. And for the doctors, too. Because the doctors are going to get more paying patients, because people will now have this ticket, this insurance card, that they can whip out when they need medical services.

BILL MOYERS: So, does this explain why Harry and Louise, who were around 15 years ago to help defeat Bill Clinton's health plan, Bill and Hillary Clinton's health plan, are back now in support? Seemingly to be in support?

MARCIA ANGELL: You bet it does. You bet it does.

BILL MOYERS: Let me show you the commercials that's been running now, watch closely.


....TRUDY LIEBERMAN: What's happened now is that the industries have gotten pretty much what they want out of the bills that are going forward.

And so, they need to build public support. They need to make everybody in the public realize that they actually are wearing white hats in this one. But behind the scenes, they are lobbying ferociously against the public plan, against cuts in doctors fees, against all kinds of things that they don't want. And for that they're using a different sort of lobbying tactic. All of these are communications or lobbying strategies that they know how to do and they are very excellent at doing them.

MARCIA ANGELL: It's clear that they can turn it to their advantage.

TRUDY LIEBERMAN: Right.

MARCIA ANGELL: That nobody is really trying to break their-- except the single payer people -- their death grip on the system. And here you have hundreds of for profit insurance companies that maximize their income by denying care to the people who need it most. And that's the insurance system. That's how we pay for health care.

But you also have to look at how we deliver health care. And we deliver that, primarily or largely, in for-profit facilities -- businesses, hospitals -- whose interest is in delivering only profitable care. So, we have a system that's through and through, in both the payment system and the delivery system, is oriented toward profits. Neither the Senate nor the House is doing anything to change that..."

2 page pdf
http://www.citizensforethics.org/files/20090722%20-%20Letter%20to%20Anne%20Weismann.pdf

This is Congress protecting the interests of Americans from secret Sweetheart deals made with BIG Pharm in the White House.

Being able to "re-import" less expensive drugs from Canada, and being able to use our collective power to negotiate prices with the Pharmaceutical/Insurance Industrial Complex is essential to reduce costs.
These chips should NOT be taken off the table by the White House.

Not everyone can get to Canada to get the cheaper drugs in addition as the drug companies here also supply Canada it's not inconceivable that they will curb the supply of drugs to Canada, something they've actually done before. In addition, allowing the drug companies to gouge (might as well call a spade a spade) the American public will guarantee that the public option (if we actually get one) will eventually get to the point where it will die from lack of funds.

This would be yet another giveaway to the industry that is part of the problem that is the American health care system if allowed through. What the hell was the WH thinking?

n/t