While I have tried to stay informed about health care issues and the various health care bills pending in Congress, I have been baffled about why the big pharmaceutical companies were lining up in support of ObamaCare. The pharmaceutical industry was a major opponent of HillaryCare, but have now jumped on the ObamaCare bandwagon. I did not assume their support was due to some altruistic impulse. Businesses are in the business of making money and maximising profit as they should be.
This revealing article from political pundit and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich explains why Big Pharma is supporting ObamaCare. Robert Reich is a mainstream, dependable, predictable liberal. He always supports big government. He supports universal health care but says he is appalled by the deal the White House has made with the pharmaceutical industry in order to buy their support.
Obama's agreement with Big Pharma may help healthcare reform pass, but it may also mean higher drug prices for you
By Robert Reich, Salon.com,Wednesday, Aug 12, 2009
[Excerpt] The White House confirmed it has promised Big Pharma that any healthcare legislation will bar the government from using its huge purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices. That's basically the same deal George W. Bush struck in getting the Medicare drug benefit, and it's proven a bonanza for the drug industry.
[Excerpt] Any bonanza for the drug industry means higher healthcare costs for the rest of us, which is one reason why critics of the emerging healthcare plans, including the Congressional Budget Office, are so worried about their failure to adequately stem future healthcare costs.
[Excerpt] When an industry gets secret concessions out of the White House in return for a promise to lend the industry's support to a key piece of legislation, we're in big trouble. That's called extortion: An industry is using its capacity to threaten or prevent legislation as a means of altering that legislation for its own benefit. And it's doing so at the highest reaches of our government, in the office of the president. (Read more)
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I believe that as long as government remains so heavily part of our healthcare system, problems like this will continue. Although it is trying so hard to provide healthcare for all, by being overly involved it keeps prices high and does not require industry whether the pharmaceuticals or medical fields to be competitive and bring prices down. In the end, this will hurt America's economic competitiveness in the world.
ReplyDeleteWhy is no one talking about the fine that will be levied against those of us who do not have insurance if this new and great healthcare reform is based?
ReplyDeleteI actually was reading the HR 3200 bill and it is actually buried deep in the Bill after the employer's penalties.
I meant to say "passed" instead of "based"
ReplyDeleteTo say nothing of what higher taxes will do to curtail economic growth. If you listen to advocates of ObamaCare you would think that it would be implemented with little cost or even savings.
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