PhRMA to Spend $6 Million on Final Push for Health Care Reform

[slipslidingaway]

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/03/17/phrma-to-spend-6-million-on-final-push-for-health-care-reform/

"The brand name prescription drug lobby PhRMA has been holding back on further support for health care reform until they are sure the final reconciliation package is still to the liking of the drug industry. The announcement that PhRMA plans to drop $6 million in a final round of pro-reform ads is a good indication that they received strong assurances that their secret deals with the Obama administration will be protected. From Politico:

A bit of good news for Democrats: PhRMA agreed Tuesday to fund an initial $6 million ad buy in the districts of 38 wavering House Democrats. The pro-reform ads will come from the industry-funded coalition Americans for Stable Quality Care and could hit the airwaves as early as today, a top industry official said. The deep-pocketed trade group didn’t decide how much it would spend in total on the campaign; officials are waiting to review the bill first.

Take this to be a sign that the reconciliation package will likely not include drug re-importation or direct Medicare drug price negotiations. Take this also as a good sign that the bill is unlikely to do anything to bring down prescription drug prices for the majority of Americans, despite the fact that we, on average, pay more for the same medications than any other industrialized nation.

Remember when Democrats rallied together as a party to nearly unanimously oppose Medicare Part D because it was written behind closed doors to win the support of PhRMA lobbyists? Remember when almost every Democrat, including Presidential candidate Barack Obama, promised to “fix” Medicare part D by passing drug re-importation and direct Medicare drug price negotiations? Remember? Because it appears everyone in Washington, DC and in the Democratic establishment is pretending that they forgot."

[bluestateguy]

1. It's like having Joe Stalin as an ally in WWII

I don't like it, but we need powerful allies with cash to counter the Chamber of Commerce's bottomless pit of ad money.

[slipslidingaway]

3. How much money did Pharma spend, what was the deal 100+ billion

in support of HC reform, that hardly gets mentioned.

:shrug:

[Edweird]

6. Here's a thought: Maybe, just maybe, Pharma and insurance co. support is a bad sign.

I know it is for me.

[mod mom]

2. I wonder if Rahm & Jim Messina suggested it.

Connecting The Dots Between PhRMA And Congress

February 22, 2010
Earlier this month, former congressman Billy Tauzin announced that he would step down from his position as president of the pharmaceutical industry's main lobbying group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America — known by the shorthand PhRMA.

Last year, PhRMA spent $28 million lobbying in favor of a health care overhaul, after negotiating a deal with the White House and members of Congress. In that deal, the pharmaceutical industry pledged to reduce health care costs by $80 billion over 10 years.

By negotiating the secret deal, writer Paul Blumenthal explains, "the Obama administration got the biggest lobby in Washington and put them on the side of health care reform." Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical industry got a guarantee that "Congress would not legislate any cost-cutting measures that would make a dent in industry profits."

Blumenthal, a senior writer at the Sunlight Foundation, determined that Congress and PhRMA met dozens of times to negotiate that deal. He tells Terry Gross that he learned who attended the meetings by examining Federal Election Commission records, public visitor logs to the White House and the publicly available schedule of Sen. Max Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

"The major people are President Obama, Rahm Emanuel and Jim Messina," Blumenthal says. "Jim Messina is the former chief of staff and campaign manager to Sen. Max Baucus. You see Jim Messina pop up in meetings between pharmacy CEOs."

-snip
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123889454

[slipslidingaway]

4. Could be, maybe they should have waited a little bit :) n/t

[Mari333]

5. thanks for that article

that should be an op in itself

smackdown.

[slipslidingaway]

7. Americans for Stable Quality Care - their ad from October

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6841162&mesg_id=6841162

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk9IxALSfxs&feature=player_embedded