Obama In Collusion With The Big Bad Drug Companies

[Vel]

So much for transparency and working in the best interest of the little guy.

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Drugmakers Vowed to Campaign for Health Law, Memos Show
By Drew Armstrong on May 31, 2012

Drugmakers led by Pfizer (PFE) (PFE) Inc. agreed to run a “very significant public campaign” bankrolling political support for the 2010 health-care law, including TV ads, while the Obama administration promised to block provisions opposed by drugmakers, documents released by Republicans show.

The internal memos and e-mails for the first time unveil the industry's plan to finance positive TV ads and supportive groups, along with providing $80 billion in discounts and taxes that were included in the law. The administration has previously denied the existence of a deal involving political support.

“As part of our agreement, PhRMA needs to undertake a very significant public campaign in order to support policies of mutual interest to the industry and the Administration,” according to a July 14, 2009, memo from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. “We have included a significant amount for advertising to express appreciation for lawmakers’ positions on health care reform issues.”

Drugmakers Vowed to Campaign for Health Law, Memos Show - Businessweek

 

[Mad Scientist]

Because they know they can get Govt Doctors to push their drugs on us. These people should be frog marched out and hung by their necks.

Stop following Western Medicine which consists of:

1. Cut (Surgery)
2. Burn (Radiation)
3. Poison (Drug)

90-95% of our health problems can be controlled with Nutrition and Vitamin supplementation alone.

Stop following that FDA approved Food Pyramid too.

 

[Vel]

I see this as wrong on so many levels. You had the Whitehouse blackmail the drug companies in order to get their agenda through and then the Whitehouse basically let the fox have control of the henhouse all in order for Obama to claim he did something.
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The documents show that former White House Chief of Staff Jim Messina and health care reform point woman Nancy-Ann DeParle told drug company representatives in June 2009 that if they didn’t cooperate on the initiative, Mr. Obama would demand a 15 percent rebate on Medicare drugs and push to remove the tax deduction for direct consumer advertising — items that could cost the industry $100 billion over the next decade.

The threats appeared to work, and the parties met the next month to hammer out a final deal. The drug companies agreed to pay higher Medicaid rebates and a new health care reform fee to raise $80 billion for the legislation, and promised to run positive television ads about it.

In exchange, the White House gave them direct input into the new policies and promised to let them continue to set their own drug prices.

Ms. DeParle threw in an extra prize to reward pharmaceutical companies for their cooperation, saying she and other officials decided to reverse the administration’s position on drug importation, which Mr. Obama supported while running for president.

“I made [the] decision, based on how constructive you guys have been, to oppose importation on this bill,” she wrote to Bryant Hall, chief lobbyist for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

Threats, deals got drug companies on board with Obama - Washington Times

 

[Flopper]

Are deals made? Of course they are or no major legislation would ever get passed. The drug and insurance companies are too powerful to get any healthcare legislation through without their backing. Anyone that believes otherwise is either naive or very obtuse.

 

[tjvh]

Are deals made? Of course they are or no major legislation would ever get passed. The drug and insurance companies are too powerful to get any healthcare legislation through without their backing. Anyone that believes otherwise is either naive or very obtuse.

And believing the Media addresses them with the same vigor when Politics are involved, is also being naive or very obtuse.

 

[Vel]

Are deals made? Of course they are or no major legislation would ever get passed. The drug and insurance companies are too powerful to get any healthcare legislation through without their backing. Anyone that believes otherwise is either naive or very obtuse.

Just all in the course huh? Crap like this is exactly why this country is in it's current shape. The something for everyone mentality simply drives costs on things higher in order for everyone to get their payoffs.

If we've reached the point where we can't get legislation passed without bribery and blackmail, then it's time to scrap this system ( or it's players ) and start over.

 

[swizzlee]

This backroom deal between Obama and the drug companies was reported by some legitimate newspaper [since forgotten] shortly after this occurred.

While the nastier details taking the form of threats by Obama did not make it into the reporting, it was clear that the drug companies, in exchange for beneficial treatment in Obamacare, were to close the doughnut hole by 50% thru the contribution of $80B. The article made it clear that the drug companies were being afforded special treatment. I'm a skeptic and I wondered when the hammer would fall since we are on Medicare.

Sure enough just a few months later, while the country has been led to believe these companies would be dumping $$ out of their profits into the Medicare Part D
doughnut hole, I stumbled across the brief blurb that the drug companies were raising their prices by 8% with the additional comment that this increase was expected to cover their $80B commitment to Medicare.

When our next annual formulary came out, sure enough a number of our Tier II and up prescription drugs had shot up, one of them doubled.

The government giveth, the government taketh away. And this is one of the most egregiously despicable examples of that that has gone public in a very long time.

I find it appalling.

 

[swizzlee]

Absolutely!

And people wonder why the Tea Party blossomed so quickly??

 

[Truthmatters]

So now they dont want CEOs to have a say in creating legislation?


Dudes your whole platform is about the CEOs getting what they want.

 

[Vel]

So now they dont want CEOs to have a say in creating legislation?


Dudes your whole platform is about the CEOs getting what they want.

What utter bullshit as usual. When will you spin your straw man into gold?

 

[The T]

Are deals made? Of course they are or no major legislation would ever get passed. The drug and insurance companies are too powerful to get any healthcare legislation through without their backing. Anyone that believes otherwise is either naive or very obtuse.

Just all in the course huh? Crap like this is exactly why this country is in it's current shape. The something for everyone mentality simply drives costs on things higher in order for everyone to get their payoffs.

If we've reached the point where we can't get legislation passed without bribery and blackmail, then it's time to scrap this system ( or it's players ) and start over.

I'm of the mind of scrapping the players and a HUGE law review. Scrap laws that deny liberty to the people.

Ought to keep them busy for a few decades.

 

[Vel]

Are deals made? Of course they are or no major legislation would ever get passed. The drug and insurance companies are too powerful to get any healthcare legislation through without their backing. Anyone that believes otherwise is either naive or very obtuse.

Just all in the course huh? Crap like this is exactly why this country is in it's current shape. The something for everyone mentality simply drives costs on things higher in order for everyone to get their payoffs.

If we've reached the point where we can't get legislation passed without bribery and blackmail, then it's time to scrap this system ( or it's players ) and start over.

I'm of the mind of scrapping the players and a HUGE law review. Scrap laws that deny liberty to the people.

Ought to keep them busy for a few decades.

It's so difficult to do though because you have so many in the country voting just to further their own immediate best interests without regard to the long term interests of the nation at large.

 

[The T]

Just all in the course huh? Crap like this is exactly why this country is in it's current shape. The something for everyone mentality simply drives costs on things higher in order for everyone to get their payoffs.

If we've reached the point where we can't get legislation passed without bribery and blackmail, then it's time to scrap this system ( or it's players ) and start over.

I'm of the mind of scrapping the players and a HUGE law review. Scrap laws that deny liberty to the people.

Ought to keep them busy for a few decades.

It's so difficult to do though because you have so many in the country voting just to further their own immediate best interests without regard to the long term interests of the nation at large.

Oh I agree...but Austerity has to come in one form and fashion. But it will come.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Waitasecond...

I thought that "Obamacare" was designed to destroy private health companies, not designed by private health companies...

You guys should make up your minds.

 

[Vel]

Waitasecond...

I thought that "Obamacare" was designed to destroy private health companies, not designed by private health companies...

You guys should make up your minds.

Are you having trouble keeping up today or something? The discussion topic is the blackmail and bribery of the DRUG companies. We'll tackle the complicity of the health insurance market at another time.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Waitasecond...

I thought that "Obamacare" was designed to destroy private health companies, not designed by private health companies...

You guys should make up your minds.

Are you having trouble keeping up today or something? The discussion topic is the blackmail and bribery of the DRUG companies. We'll tackle the complicity of the health insurance market at another time.

I am including drug companies in "private health companies".

 

[dblack]

Are deals made? Of course they are or no major legislation would ever get passed. The drug and insurance companies are too powerful to get any healthcare legislation through without their backing. Anyone that believes otherwise is either naive or very obtuse.

It's not a matter of believing it, but whether you consider it acceptable or not.

 

[CaféAuLait]

This backroom deal between Obama and the drug companies was reported by some legitimate newspaper [since forgotten] shortly after this occurred.

While the nastier details taking the form of threats by Obama did not make it into the reporting, it was clear that the drug companies, in exchange for beneficial treatment in Obamacare, were to close the doughnut hole by 50% thru the contribution of $80B. The article made it clear that the drug companies were being afforded special treatment. I'm a skeptic and I wondered when the hammer would fall since we are on Medicare.

Sure enough just a few months later, while the country has been led to believe these companies would be dumping $$ out of their profits into the Medicare Part D
doughnut hole, I stumbled across the brief blurb that the drug companies were raising their prices by 8% with the additional comment that this increase was expected to cover their $80B commitment to Medicare.

When our next annual formulary came out, sure enough a number of our Tier II and up prescription drugs had shot up, one of them doubled.

The government giveth, the government taketh away. And this is one of the most egregiously despicable examples of that that has gone public in a very long time.

I find it appalling.

Huffington Post even:

Internal Memo Confirms Big Giveaways In White House Deal With Big Pharma

A memo obtained by the Huffington Post confirms that the White House and the pharmaceutical lobby secretly agreed to precisely the sort of wide-ranging deal that both parties have been denying over the past week.

The memo, which according to a knowledgeable health care lobbyist was prepared by a person directly involved in the negotiations, lists exactly what the White House gave up, and what it got in return.

It says the White House agreed to oppose any congressional efforts to use the government's leverage to bargain for lower drug prices or import drugs from Canada -- and also agreed not to pursue Medicare rebates or shift some drugs from Medicare Part B to Medicare Part D, which would cost Big Pharma billions in reduced reimbursements.

Internal Memo Confirms Big Giveaways In White House Deal With Big Pharma

 

[The T]

This backroom deal between Obama and the drug companies was reported by some legitimate newspaper [since forgotten] shortly after this occurred.

While the nastier details taking the form of threats by Obama did not make it into the reporting, it was clear that the drug companies, in exchange for beneficial treatment in Obamacare, were to close the doughnut hole by 50% thru the contribution of $80B. The article made it clear that the drug companies were being afforded special treatment. I'm a skeptic and I wondered when the hammer would fall since we are on Medicare.

Sure enough just a few months later, while the country has been led to believe these companies would be dumping $$ out of their profits into the Medicare Part D
doughnut hole, I stumbled across the brief blurb that the drug companies were raising their prices by 8% with the additional comment that this increase was expected to cover their $80B commitment to Medicare.

When our next annual formulary came out, sure enough a number of our Tier II and up prescription drugs had shot up, one of them doubled.

The government giveth, the government taketh away. And this is one of the most egregiously despicable examples of that that has gone public in a very long time.

I find it appalling.

Huffington Post even:

Internal Memo Confirms Big Giveaways In White House Deal With Big Pharma

A memo obtained by the Huffington Post confirms that the White House and the pharmaceutical lobby secretly agreed to precisely the sort of wide-ranging deal that both parties have been denying over the past week.

The memo, which according to a knowledgeable health care lobbyist was prepared by a person directly involved in the negotiations, lists exactly what the White House gave up, and what it got in return.

It says the White House agreed to oppose any congressional efforts to use the government's leverage to bargain for lower drug prices or import drugs from Canada -- and also agreed not to pursue Medicare rebates or shift some drugs from Medicare Part B to Medicare Part D, which would cost Big Pharma billions in reduced reimbursements.

Internal Memo Confirms Big Giveaways In White House Deal With Big Pharma

ut-oh

 

[Flopper]

Are deals made? Of course they are or no major legislation would ever get passed. The drug and insurance companies are too powerful to get any healthcare legislation through without their backing. Anyone that believes otherwise is either naive or very obtuse.

Just all in the course huh? Crap like this is exactly why this country is in it's current shape. The something for everyone mentality simply drives costs on things higher in order for everyone to get their payoffs.

If we've reached the point where we can't get legislation passed without bribery and blackmail, then it's time to scrap this system ( or it's players ) and start over.

Backroom deal making and political favors are as old as this country. It's how important legislation gets passed. That's also how you end up with 6,000 earmarks on a transportation bill, many of which have nothing to do with transportation. As long as we allow large corporations and pressure groups to control congress, then the White House, regardless who occupies it will be making deals.