A must read - Pharma and the rest of us

[swizzlee]

I had read about this shortly after it happened but without the ugly details. I am also aware that Pharma paid for this, not out of their profits, but by raising their prices by 8%. The cost of my Crestor doubled.

WASHINGTON — After weeks of talks, drug industry lobbyists were growing nervous. To cut a deal with the White House on overhauling health care, they needed to be sure that President Obama would stop a proposal intended to bring down medicine prices.

Let us all remember that Obama's oft stated goal with HC was to BRING THE COST DOWN.

Ms. DeParle reassured the lobbyist. Although Mr. Obama was overseas, she wrote, she and other top officials had “made decision, based on how constructive you guys have been, to oppose importation” on a different proposal.

Just like that, Mr. Obama’s staff signaled a willingness to put aside support for the reimportation of prescription medicines at lower prices and by doing so solidified a compact with an industry the president had vilified on the campaign trail.

A president who had promised to negotiate on C-Span cut a closed-door deal with a powerful lobby, signifying to disillusioned liberal supporters a loss of innocence, or perhaps even the triumph of cynicism.

But the bargain was one that the president deemed necessary to forestall industry opposition that had thwarted efforts to cover the uninsured for generations. Without the deal, in which the industry agreed to provide $80 billion to expand coverage in exchange for protection from policies that would cost more, Mr. Obama calculated he might get nowhere.

“Throughout his campaign, President Obama was clear that he would bring every stakeholder to the table in order to pass health reform, even longtime opponents like the pharmaceutical industry,” Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, said Friday. “He understood correctly that the unwillingness to work with people on both sides of the issue was one of the reasons why it took a century to pass health reform.”

I am slack-jawed with disbelief at the utter idiocy of Pfeiffer's remark. Is he not saying that Pharma is just too powerful therefore we, in order to work with them, were forced to give away the ranch in order to reach a "compromise"? And what does this say about the politicians of both parties who preceded Obama?

In a statement, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the drug industry lobby known as PhRMA, called its interactions with the White House part of its mission to “ensure patient access” to high-quality medicine: “Before, during and since the health care debate, PhRMA engaged with Congress and the administration to advance these priorities,” the lobby statement said.

Good God, spare me the bullshit. Is there anyone in government these days who has the balls to remember they work for the people?

NYT: Drug industry pushed Obama on health law - politics - The New York Times - msnbc.com

This is not just about Obama or the Democrats. This situation didn't evolve all by itself or thru one party only. Remember that if the Supremes overturn HC, we start anew. Will this article give you a new perspective on how some aspects should be dealt with?