Big Pharma has backed off its specious claim that the Obama Administration has acquiesced to their demand for a prohibition on price negotioations with drug companies.
As one might have guessed, this was a transparent attempt by the repugligorns and probably Big Pharma itself, to make POTUS look bad in the eyes of his most ardent supporters.
Remember, the Republican modus operandi is to use lies to divide and conquer.
Sam Stein of the Huffington Post has the story - excerpts below the jump. Here's the link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
From Sam Stein's report:
In yet another in a series of evolving statements and backtracks, an official with the country's major pharmaceutical lobby said on Monday that it never struck a "quote, unquote secret deal with the White House" that would have prohibited the government from negotiating lower drug prices for Medicare.
"It was never brought up at the meeting," said Ken Johnson the senior vice president for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, just days after his boss told the New York Times that the White House's commitment to not support price controls was, as far as he was concerned, "a done deal."
This fabricated story feels more and more like a smear on POTUS designed to alienate and/or pi$$ off progressive Obama supporters. 'Distract and divide' is the Repugligorn tactic of choice. I predicted this was a phoney baloney report when it first popped up a day or two ago. To all diarists who ranted against the White House for selling them out, betraying them, being Bush lite, etc., apologies are welcome in the thread below. :)
Here's a bit more from the HuffPo story:
Johnson was referencing reports that the White House had agreed to not allow the government to use its purchasing power to lower drug prices in exchange for $80 billion in promised cost savings from Big Pharma over the course of ten years. The White House, on Monday, denied that such a deal was ever discussed.
The article doesn't rule out the possibility that some of the Administration's side committees and negotiators may have worked out a top-secret 80 Billion dollar price reduction cap, but it remains speculative at best, as the article explains.
And also, consider this - even if it WERE true that big Pharma had some kind of sweetheart deal in which price reduction cap was set at 80 billion dollars, total, does anyone really think POTUS or one of his auxiliary health care committees would agree to it if it DIDN'T help us reach the magic deficit-neutral goal for the reform plan?
p.s. Here's the link to Sam Steins article preceding this one, in which the White House denies any behind closed doors agreements:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Cheers, all! :)