Obama and Reid working to kill drug importation amendment (Chicago Tribune)

[mcablue]

Regarding the Dorgan (D)/McCain (R) amendment to import drugs from other nations which pay substantially lower prices for prescription drugs, the White House "fears drugmakers would derail" the whole health bill if drug re-importation passes. Moreover:

CHICAGO TRIBUNE (12-11-09): "Reid has voted for the amendment in the past, but he has worked with the White House to find a strategy for keeping the amendment out of the bill.

The amendment was strongly opposed by Democrats from states with major drug companies, including Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who was preparing to offer an alternative that would water Dorgan's amendment down to suit the drug industry."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-tc-nw-health-senate-1210-121dec11,0,7618281.story

[enid602]

1. sarcasm

Well I´m glad our health reform is being sensitive to the needs of fine corporate citizens like the pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. nope. this is the real Obama.

talk about a bait and switch.

[Armstead]

4. At least we're being consistent

Public interest versus lobbyists and oligarchs?

The oligarchs win out every time in this.

[karynnj]

5. Is it possible to leave this out of the healthcare bill, then later introduce it as a standalone bil

Don't get me wrong, I am for it. Here is why I say this - we can't lose any Democratic votes. Now I would hope that my NJ Senators would still vote for healthcare if it is added, but if there is doubt, why add it. It seems to have very strong bipartisan support - so pass healthcare, then pass it.