"White House & Big Pharma: What's the Deal?" ) CBS Evening News (August 10)
Recommended reading:
"Internal Memo Confirms Big Giveaways In White House Deal With Big Pharma" by Ryan Grimm, Huffington Post. (August 13)
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.Recommended reading:
"Billy and the Beanstalk" Wall Street Journal opinion, (August 13) [Bolding mine.]
Last week Mr. Tauzin ostentatiously blabbed to the media that his industry's deal to help fund ObamaCare with $80 billion in prescription-drug discounts was really protection money. In particular, he bragged that he had secured promises from the White House that President Obama would fend off Congressional Democrats who want to "negotiate" drug prices, which in practice means price controls.How Pharma benefits. [Bolding mine.]
Generous subsidies for middle-class health spending would result in more drug business by volume, not to mention some new customers from mandated coverage.--------------------------
At the same time, nearly half of pharma's $80 billion White House deal comes from a half-price discount offered to seniors who purchase drugs in Medicare's "doughnut hole"—that is, they pay out of pocket when total drug costs are between $2,700 and $4,350. After that, taxpayers are on the hook for 95%. But under the pharma deal, the full price—not the 50% reduction—will count toward the upper spending limit. So more beneficiaries will spend beyond that limit, and pharma will get paid more by Medicare.
This is "reform" to "save taxpayers money."
And if you doubt Pharma members expect big bucks, they're planning $150 million in ads to support Obamacare.
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