Dude
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.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/09/us/politics/e-mails-reveal-extent-of-obamas-deal-with-industry-on-health-care.html?_r=3&ref=politics
The key thing to realize is that with a federal budget measured in trillions of dollars, everyone wants a special deal and every politician is willing to make that deal, if they get something in return. Big Government has too much damn money. Corruption is endemic within both parties.
The only solution is a drastic cut in federal spending; maybe not all in one year, but we need to spend about 50% less than what we currently spend. The corruption will still be a problem, but perhaps a little less appealing.
Surprisingly, to some people this is news.
Obama’s White House agreed to help drug companies block a proposal to bring down medicine prices so they would back Obama’s healthcare plan.
NYTimes writing about it... well, sucks to be obama.
The drug companies are trying to get the government to prohibit drugs being bought in Canada and shipped here.
This is not new - just wasn’t reported by the press to any significant degree. Remember the health care lobbyists were in a panic over Martha Coakley falling behind in the polls and they started pumping her up with cash because they thought her failing to beat Scott Brown would put Obamacare in jeopardy. It was one of the most pro corporatist / anticompetitive bills in history ever passed.
Big business is moving away from capitalism as frantically as is Obama. Sure, the private sector is doing just fine.
Dude
Boston Globe: Merck To Pay $24M In Overcharging Case
Merck & Co. has agreed to pay $24 million to the state Medicaid program to settle long-running civil charges that it charged too much for some drugs, in the largest single-case Medicaid fraud settlement in Massachusetts history. The agreement, unveiled yesterday by Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office, closes out a 2003 lawsuit filed against 13 drug makers over inflated prices for medicines that were sold in pharmacies (Weisman, 12/21)/2011
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/daily-reports/2011/december/21/mercks-medicaid-settlement.aspx
Several industry groups handed over the e-mails voluntarily after the White House refused to release them.
The tactics employed by the administration and its allies in Congress, as well as the deals the administration reached with key industry groups to secure passage of the health-care law, have been well documented.
And the documents released Friday essentially conformed to that narrative.
But they offered a more intimate glimpse into some of the behind-the-scenes discussions with organizations such as the industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
In one of the e-mails released Friday, PhRMA’s chief lobbyist reported that the White House had a particular request concerning the ads.
Then-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel asked for “Harry and Louise ads thru third party” he wrote.
In a statement, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), chairman of the subcommittee that conducted the investigation, suggested this amounted to hypocrisy. “President Obama promised the most transparent administration in our history and railed against third-party advertising. We now know that Obama pressured the pharmaceutical industry in secret meetings to fund third-party advertising in support of Obamacare,” he said.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have uncovered a trove of emails and other memos showing how the Obama administration coordinated its $150 million advertising campaign with major pharmaceutical companies.
Nearly $70 million was spent through two Super PACs — political action committees — organized in part by White House officials, including Jim Messina, Obama’s former deputy chief of staff who is now managing his 2012 reelection campaign.
Democratic consultants working with the White House on health reform asked to meet backers of the law “to discuss our ad campaign,” Ron Pollack, executive director of the Families USA consumer group, said in a June 2009 e-mail to PhRMA.
“As I mentioned previously, I wanted to get some guidance from the White House about their messaging and how our effort can be consistent with that,” Pollack wrote.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/10/obamas-collaboration-with-big-pharma-exposed/
Not news - I wrote in protest at the time to the makers of the meds I use most. They essentially said FU. They don’t mind fascism if a fascist is in office.
Not news - I wrote in protest at the time to the makers of the meds I use most. They essentially said FU. They don’t mind fascism if a fascist is in office.
Pharma got screwed on this deal. My sweetie works for #3. The Pharma industry has lost around 200k jobs since Zero was annointed.
Too bad they are often so brainwashed these days about voting D instead of R that they can't see how he just F-ed them like they are brainwashed by Dems that Rs do to them. Wake up world. This guy's healthcare was all about Commie care not about truly looking to fulfill your needs over a lifetime.
Only real capitalism does that because competition is king and the ability to dictate your own wage based on your work ethic is a damn good destiny. Unless your lazy and want to stay on Mommy's nipple that is.
The most corrupt government I can remember.
So why did Republicans release this on a Friday news dump day.
Seems they are in on the ‘colluding’ as well?
Blagoyevich contends that things went south for him when he took on big pharma in Illinois and began looking for ways to bring down prescription costs.
How come all this didn’t come out in those public hearings on Obamacare on CSPAN —the ones Obama promised during his campaign
Wait you say they never happened
But But he promised
Why the hell the GOP never jumped all over that still irks the hell out of me
I don’t know...my first thought was that if the Obamacare is foisted on us, the low-cost generic drugs that are made in countries like Jordan, China, India, Canada, and who knows where else, will be what we are forced to have.
I found out that my thyroid medication came from Jordan, so I make sure I get non-generic, made in USA, right now in Bristol, TN (or if not available, made in Canada). It costs more, but I don’t care. We may soon not have a choice, will have to go generic and not know where our drugs are coming from, just like a lot of our food now.
As far as the psychotic drugs and all the new stuff for bi-polar disease, etc., they will continue to rise in costs and necessitate government “help” (control).