Dem Senators: White House Says It Cut No Deal With Drug Makers

[SpartanDem]

Source: Huffinton Post

A senior White House aide told Democratic senators Thursday that the administration did not make a deal with the pharmaceutical lobby that would prevent Congress from using the government's clout to negotiate for lower drug prices, according to three Democratic senators who were in the meeting.

The New York Times had reported on Thursday morning that the White House affirmed that a deal barring price negotiations had been struck.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) asked two top White House aides, David Axelrod and deputy White House chief of staff Jim Messina, if the administration had cut such a deal with PhRMA.

"He says there's no deal. I take him at his word," Brown told the Huffington Post.

"It contradicts what Billy Tauzin said told the drug makers, but Billy Tauzin has not always been all that straight with the truth," said Brown, referring to PhRMA's president, a former Republican congressman from Louisiana. Tauzin pushed through the original law that barred the government from negotiating for lower prices. Shortly thereafter, he left to lobby for the drug makers.



Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/06/dem-senators-white-house_n_253502.html

[Journeyman]

1. "Billy Tauzin has not always been all that straight with the truth. . ."

No truer words have been said of Billy Tauzin . . .

[Eric J in MN]

3. Yes, but then why negotiate with him in the first place?

Even if the most honest man in the world were hired to represent the drug companies, I still wouldn't believe promises made by him on their behalf. No matter how sincere their negotiator, the companies would seek to maximize their profits regardless of what he said.

Legislation to lower drug prices makes more sense than counting on unenforceable promises.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

4. Yep. I agree.

I don't know what to believe. This denial doesn't seem so strong to me.

[Eric J in MN]

2. This leaves more questions. Was David Axelrod present for the negotiations...

...between the White House and Billy Tauzin?

Were there negotiations?

If there were negotiations and Axelrod wasn't there, then who was?

[madfloridian]

5. Messina said what Tauzin said was true.

"A deputy White House chief of staff, Jim Messina, confirmed Mr. Tauzin’s account of the deal in an e-mail message on Wednesday night.

“The president encouraged this approach,” Mr. Messina wrote. “He wanted to bring all the parties to the table to discuss health insurance reform.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/health/policy/06insure.html?_r=5&hp

[SemiCharmedQuark]

6. There is a difference between encouraging discourse and committing to a deal.

But I'm not sure what is going on here. I can't access the NY Times article.

[madfloridian]

7. I can pm it to you if you wish.

Let me know.

[SUMMERTREE2]

8. Congress should find out.

by passing a modification to Medicare Part D that would require discounts to be negotiated with the drug companies.

[SpartanDem]

9. They already did last week

Print | E-mailCQ TODAY MIDDAY UPDATE
July 31, 2009 – 2:24 p.m.
House Compromise Would Let Medicare Negotiate Drug Prices
The government would be authorized to negotiate prices in Medicare’s prescription drug program under an agreement Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats struck Friday on its health overhaul bill.

The panel, rushing to finish its part of the huge bill before leaving later in the day for the August recess, was expected to vote on the drug pricing provision as part of a package of amendments aimed at satisfying the competing demands of liberal and conservative Democrats.

Under the package deal, the committee will vote on three amendments. One, requested by the Blue Dogs, would require a government-run insurance plan created by the bill — the so-called “public option” — to negotiate payments with health providers, instead of setting rates at 5 percent above the Medicare payment level.

Liberals worried that the change would weaken the public plan’s ability to drive cost cuts by private insurers. But Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told lawmakers that wasn’t necessarily true.

The second amendment, according to a summary of the agreement, would make a number of less controversial changes to the bill, including requiring that the public plan use a formulary to control its drug cost.

The third amendment would authorize HHS to negotiate drug prices paid by Medicare — something long fought by the pharmaceutical industry.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=cqmidday-000003183702