The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the big pharmaceutical companies were threatening to withdraw their support for the health reform effort if negotiated drug prices for Medicare was going to be part of the package because that would violate their deal with the White House. Apparently, in an effort to get the pharmaceutical guys to be the first ones to step up and allow President Obama to announce that there was a big agreement to contain costs, the Whtie House made some sort of back room deal with Big Pharma. On Wednesday, the White House hurried to reassure them publicly that the back room deal was good, thereby acknowledging that they not only had made secret promises that Congress didn’t know about while Congress committees are holding their own negotiations, but that the deal included something expressly opposite a campaign promise to control drug costs or import cheaper drugs from Canada.
Needless to say, this caused an uproar both from White House allies in Congress and from the public.
Now, unlike a certain other president we have had recently, Barack Obama is willing to admit when he’s wrong and back down when he or his staff makes a mistake. So Friday, the New York Times had a new story saying that not only had the White House changed their tune, but that the pharmafolk had politely gone along with the news that the White House was not making any such promises. Well, that’s progress of a sort. Maybe.
The questions that remain are: What kind of deal WAS made? And how are we supposed to trust health care “reform” when the big advertising campaign supporting it is paid for by Big Pharma?
Here are the original NY Times articles:
From Wednesday:
White House Affirms Deal on Drug Cost
From Friday:
