Obama stops $80B in Health Care Savings for Consumers/Taxpayers
Obama's Big Pharma Sellout - Today comes word that the White House is fighting to insure that Big Pharma continues to exploit a monopoly position in extorting the highest possible prices from U. S. consumers (and now taxpayers.) Drug importation was first proposed by Sen. Byron Dorgan, a Democrat from North Dakota, in an amendment to the healthcare bill. The amendment would have allowed U.S. wholesale and retail drug distributors, including pharmacies, to import products from Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan or New Zealand, where price controls keep drug costs much lower than in the United States. The amendment eventually gained more than 24 sponsors from both major parties.
"This issue isn't rocket science," Dorgan said. "The American people are charged the highest prices in the world. They want Congress to stand up for their interests and do something about it."
According to Dorgan and co-sponsor Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona and former presidential candidate, drug importation could cut $80 billion off the country's health spending over the next decade.
Big Pharam and the White House tried to spin the tale that this measure was about drug safety. But other Senators said that the Dorgan bill only applied to imported drugs from FDA approved and regulated plants.
As a result of massive lobbying by the White House and the Pharaceutical industry that reportedly threatened to pull its support of health care report should importation be allowed, Dorgan's proposal, which needed 60 votes to be incorporated into the healthcare bill, failed 51-48. A separate amendment that would have allowed the importation of drugs specifically approved by the FDA also failed, 56-43.
Tags: Big Pharma
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