Reply #13: knr ....

[slipslidingaway]

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/august/the_art_of_the_drug_.php

"...In a secret, behind-the-scenes mother of all deals, the Obama administration agreed to two central PhRMA demands: no government negotiation of drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries and no re-importation of cheaper drugs from Canada or other countries. In exchange, the industry “pledged” $80 billion in cost savings over 10 years. The details of how the cost savings will be achieved and accounted for haven’t been disclosed...

...Tauzin said of the deal earlier on, “We were assured: ‘We need somebody to come in first. If you come in first, you will have a rock-solid deal.’” Later, reported the New York Times, Tauzin threw down the threat: “80 billion is the max,” he said, “no more or less, adding other stuff changes the deal. Who is ever going to go into a deal with the White House again if they don’t keep their word? You are just going to duke it out instead.”

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THE PRESCRIPTION-buying public, of course, got a raw deal. In accepting PhRMA’s demand for no price controls, the government is forgoing what could be as much as $220 billion in savings over the same period. That’s according to a report by the Institute for America’s Future that matched drug price savings the government negotiated for the Veteran’s Administration..."