| Big Pharma Gets Played REVIEW & OUTLOOK JULY 16, 2009 | Mr. Tauzin -- the former Democratic Congressman turned Republican turned pharmaceutical frontman -- has been assuring his CEO employers that he can get them a good deal if they negotiate with Democrats instead of opposing them on health care. And to show its bona fides, the drug lobby announced in June an agreement with Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, promising $80 billion over the next decade to defray drug costs for seniors and to finance the Obama plan. Mr. Tauzin believed this giveaway would spare his industry from price controls and the reimportation of cheaper foreign drugs that would reduce company margins and profits. Mr. Tauzin should have demanded a pre-nup. House Democrats declared last week that they aren't bound by Senator Baucus's deal. And this week they released a health-care bill that pocketed the industry concessions for senior drug coverage, and also imposed the very price controls Mr. Tauzin thought he'd shelved...In case this isn't enough of a doublecross, Senate Democrats are also considering hefty new taxes on health insurance and . . . pharmaceutical companies. Price tag: $100 billion. Let's just say the companies' return on their investment in Mr. Tauzin's political strategy is looking negative. |
Now Hon. Kosmas and Hon. Grayson can charge a higher price for their vote, and the pharmaceutical companies will have to pay or be shut out. Meanwhile, regular citizens get the shaft.
My plan is to only support health care reform if
- The Senate and House have to go on the same medical plan as we civilians get, or
- we civilians get the same medical plan that Senate and House have right now.
Otherwise, it is a ripoff.
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