Drug Makers Move Closer to Big Victory

[kysrsoze]

As Congress edged closer to passing a Medicare drug benefit that prohibits the government from using its buying clout to win discounts, one thing was clear: the drug industry appeared on the cusp of an enormous victory, gained in part by millions in political donations and an expensive lobbying campaign.

(snip)

Drug makers have pressed hard for the legislation, because most executives believe that a Medicare drug benefit will forestall efforts to legalize drug imports or control drug prices.

Still, the industry is not out of the woods, said Joe Antos, a health policy analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative research center in Washington. "The pressure to do something about drug prices is still very high," Mr. Antos said yesterday. "This bill is the best the industry could get, but that's not very good."

(snip)

President Bill Clinton had threatened price controls. Democrats had proposed having Medicare buy drugs in much the way that it pays for hospital care, which would have meant steep discounts across most of the companies' businesses. Instead, "you're getting a drug benefit, and the two things we were most scared about — drug importation and price controls — aren't in the bill," said Richard Evans, an analyst for Bernstein Research.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/25/politics/25DRUG.html

[RamboLiberal]

1. Anyone get the feeling this thing is about to blow up in Repugs faces

Just a gut feeling I have. The AARP member rebellion. The Luntz focus group tonight that showed strong feelings against this bill. Dems attacking it.

This may be the domestic equivalent of the Abraham Lincoln Top Gun Mission Accomplished stunt.

Serve Rove and the Repugs right if this turned in to Bush's turkey.

[young_at_heart]

2. I sure wish your theory would be correct.

It seems we are gradually becoming a huge corporation.

[54anickel]

7. Yep, Repugs and Dems that voted for it!

Dems need to keep this front and center. The really bad sh*t doesn't hit until 2006. Dems need to keep reminding everyone that this farce was the Repugs deal! Get everyone educated on just how bad this sucker really is.

[meisje]

8. dems attacking it? they voted for it

sad

[glarius]

3. The government of Canada keeps our drugs low cost by buying them

through bargaining for the best price and buying them in big quantities....If your government did the same perhaps your citizens wouldn't be travelling up here in buses to buy them....:)

[0rganism]

4. Sorry, we can't hear you LALALALALALALALALALA

free market good LALALALALALALA single payer bad LALALALALALALALALA

at this point, I think we USians really are too stupid to deserve a decent government. Some are stupider than others, to be sure, but on the balance we're getting just what we want.

Plato may have been a proto-fascist, but he accurately predicted the outcome of democracy run amok.

[RamboLiberal]

5. I think we're going to see a rebellion that they banned drug importation

from not only individual seniors, but state and large municipal governments here. It is a freakin' crime the prices of drugs here in the U.S.

[glarius]

6. The state governors are already coming up here to check it out

I can't remember who they all are...I know the governor of Minnesota was here....And even one or two Republican governors, if you can imagine that!...One was from Illinois I think....I've seen them all on our TV saying they find the system to insure safety just as reliable here as in the U.S.A....I keep hearing people on American TV saying they are concerned for the safety of Canadian drugs....How ridiculous!