"Filling the doughnut hole should help seniors stay on their branded therapies and lessen the tendency for seniors to switch from brands to generics once they hit the donut hole," Anderson said. "This is critical because once patients convert to generics, they seldom revert back to the brand and are essentially lost to cheaper generics forever."

That's right folks...it's all about helping people.

Amazing how the drug cos suddenly decide to come up with this plan now that national health care is coming down the pike.

Amazing how the drug cos suddenly decide to come up with this plan now that national health care is coming down the pike.

Fortunately, with Obama's vehement opposition to behavior like this, he'll stop it before it gets off the ground...or he'll justify it with some lame excuse. One or the other, I'm sure.

It was the Obama admin that negotiated the deal, and the industry is doing it to "inoculate" themselves from more severe costs.

"Industry Inoculation

The deal may protect the industry against changes estimated to cost $100 billion to $150 billion in profits during that time, Roopesh Patel, an analyst with UBS in New York, said yesterday in a telephone interview. It's still relatively early in the legislative wrangling over health care, Patel said.

"If you wait to the end they will come after you even more because they need you to plug a hole," Patel said. "It's all in the context of the reality that if health-care reform gets done they are going to have to give up something. To the extent we can contain that exposure sooner rather than later there is a benefit to doing it now."

Reading. It's FUNamental.

Fundamental, lol. Spelling, not so much.

Wasn't one of Barry's campaign promises not to suck up to lobbiest groups?
I guess the drug industry doesn't count?

Anderson estimated a "profit impact" of no more than 4 percent, which he described as low. He based the calculation on global drug sales of $800 billion a year, which includes $150 billion worth of generics.

Protecting against severe costs? More like maintaining the status quo.

Funny to see "liberals" in the tank for big pharma.

5 percent, or 10, would be a more severe cost than 4 percent. At least in English.

The drug and insurance companies started reading these polls that have over 70 percent of Americans favoring a public health plan long ago, and decided that it would be better to play now than pay later.

I'm sure Obama spit in their face as he accepted their check.

LOL

The drug and insurance companies started reading these polls that have over 70 percent of Americans favoring a public health plan long ago, and decided that it would be better to play now than pay later.

I'm pretty sure they were proactively working on this way before the public saw any polling numbers.

All kinds of industries saw the writing on the wall very early on last year, a Dem in the White House, and spent their money accordingly. Nothing new there.

Is 4 percent for a 1.5 trillion dollars affordable...in English? I suppose when you need to get 80 million dollars to shut something down, a couple trillion in spending for a couple percent savings makes perfect sense.

From the article:

"AARP, the lobbying group for older Americans, took part in the White House event, kicking off a week in which Obama is taking his case for changing the system to the public."

That is pure bull shit. AARP is not a lobbying group for older Americans, they supported Part D of Medicare as it is now written which costs the country billions every year. They are a for-profit company that sells insurance. I will never join no matter how many hundreds of letters I get from them.

I wonder if in response to this that the drug companies will have cut back on R&D; thereby removing or possibly prolonging the discovery of the next possible lifesaving cure?

That 4% is the cost of doing buisiness. They budget for it and add it to the prices.

For years the pharma industry knows it has to control whoever is in congress. This little "pledge" is a payoff so the current adminstration can take credit for "reforming healthcare" while not really changing anything and staying off their backs.

"I wonder if in response to this that the drug companies will have cut back on R&D; thereby removing or possibly prolonging the discovery of the next possible lifesaving cure?"

Perhaps they could cut their advertising budgets instead. Perhaps we should put the law against them advertising prescription drugs back in place like it is in virtually every other country.

Perhaps they could cut their advertising budgets instead. Perhaps we should put the law against them advertising prescription drugs back in place like it is in virtually every other country.

Posted by danni

Yes, lets not inform the public of their choices and let the doctor (and his drug rep) do it all for them at the clinic.

LOL

Obama Health Plan Gets Drug Booster

I've got a lot of work ahead of me.

I could use a drug booster about now.

Yo, Obama, you listening?

Yes, lets not inform the public of their choices and let the doctor (and his drug rep) do it all for them at the clinic.

Yeah I mean who ever heard of using the internet to look up a drug?

anyone still think Obama is a liberal?

...or a socialist?

You still need the doctors on board to prescribe those pills, and judging by the AMA's rejection of a public plan, fewer and fewer doctors taking patients on medicare and medicaid, and Obama's plan to cut the payments to doctors and hospitals that do take medicare/medicaid patients, I'm sorry I just don't see them getting in on this. Everyone will have insurance, only the ones paying cash will get seen. Great!

The internet? You are serious? why would you want the ads pulled anyway?

I know why danni does. She thinks the companies should save their billions.

:-(

"Yes, lets not inform the public of their choices and let the doctor (and his drug rep) do it all for them at the clinic."

No, please, don't tell me that...you're employed by the pharmaceutical industry Eberly????

"why would you want the ads pulled anyway?"

I'm 58 and take no medications whatsoever. I have a group of friends and we all live pretty similarly and we seem to be quite healthy. We avoid all pharmaceutical drugs. We are all complimented constantly on how young we look. Three things, healthy cooking (doesn't have to be organic but fresh is good), exercise exercise exercise, luck.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau we don't have 47 million folks who are truly uninsured. When you take college kids plus those earning $75,000 or more who choose not to sign up for a health-care plan, roughly 20 million people are removed from the list of uninsured. After that you can remove the 10 million who are not U.S. citizens and the 11 million who are eligible for SCHIP and Medicaid but for some reason have not signed up for those programs.

So that leaves only 10 million to 15 million people among the long-term uninsured.

Let's spend trillions to insure 11 million. Hurry too! Why take time on something that will change a system forever????????

Anyone want to answer the question as to why is giving more expensive drugs preferable to giving generics...and why do we need to spend all this money to not even save in the most obvious location to save money?

Eb,

What is wrong with using the internet to research drugs?

Sure you have to consider the source but you can learn a lot especialy if you take the time to cross check, find people with your disease and compare drugs.

With some effort you can walk into the apointment more armed than the doc.

At this point they'll say anything to keep the gravy train running.

$600 for an Anmerican, $3 for an African.

Middle Class Americans get stuck with the bills for the rich and the poor. The difference is the rich get far more than they'll ever need. Makes perfect sense.

Wasn't one of Barry's campaign promises not to suck up to lobbiest groups?
I guess the drug industry doesn't count?

#6 | Posted by JeffnDenmark

damn jeff
you should know by now that all of his statements are subject to change whenever the political winds blow that way and they all come with an expiration date.

and lets look at some other parts of this

watched a clip of dem debate this morning where he attacked hillary to no end about 'mandates' in health care reform....and a woman on cnn pointed out that on page 104 of this bill there are "MANDATES" where you will be penalized if you dont follow the "COMPANY" line.

fuckin liar

obama says that public option wont destroy others

and then facts are that the private companies wont be able to 'squeeze' the hospitals and doctors like the government health care provider will who in case of a 'pinch' can just raise taxes and "solve" thier problems..

fuckin liar

and I listened to house hearings this morning with several ceos of health care providers and they werent near as 'rosy' as this thread wants you to believe

The fact is that we are running now a 3TRILLION deficit because of the O-man. He has taken over the banks, the car industry, and now is focused on the Health Care industry - no matter what it costs us. They are now bullying the CBO into changing the numbers from 1.6 Trillion! to a more palatable 900B...still more than we can support.

WHY? If you look at the numbers - over 50% of the uninsured CHOOSE to be. Not that they can't pay for it...they do not want to. (spouse covered, they are a doctor or work in the medical profession, wealthy ect.)

The others are most illegal immigrants.....

So...here is a better idea

1) Close the boarders and send the illegals back - fixes California and reduces the impact on US Healthcare
2) Reduce the amount of Emergency room visits paid for by Medicare or other public programs to 20 per year
3) CAP the medical malpractice payouts to $2 million max. This takes 400B of Risk out of medical profession by lowering the cost of medical malpractice insurance. Effectively lower everyones bills.
4) Medical Practice licensed by the Federal Government - and information on all doctors kept on a public web site. This will force the bad ones out since the AMA will not do it.

This is a more sensible approach and does not destroy the current US infrastructure that have given us the best medicine in the world

ceos of health care providers and they werent near as 'rosy' as this thread wants you to believe

LOL sorry I didn't even really read the article just kinda skimmed but to think anyone would even think that too many CEO's of health care companies would be looking forward to this. That's just funny.

1) Close the boarders and send the illegals back - fixes California and reduces the impact on US Healthcare

Posted by foshaffer

LA would burn to the ground if Illegals started getting rounded up. Shit half of the SW would be on fire.

FO

the 50% is low

lets say that the number total is 50 million and thats on the high side

10 million are NOT CITIZENS

several million are students in college

several million are eligible for schip and not enrolled as well as other programs

there are lots of people said to make 80 to 90 grand a year but who CHOSE to NOT PAY...

when these are deducted, its more like 75% of the number COULD have health care but are included in this number

and those are numbers from the CBO..
people who are ALWAYS RIGHT When dems agree with them....

TAO

actually they said several things that they could get on board with such as something about EXCHANGES>...not sure what they meant as the reps time ran out before they got into it much but whatver it was...the entire panel was shaking thier heads and it was a mix of supporters and non supporters.

As long as BL2 gets his union benefits he is happy. BL2 is all for socialism when it is for him.

and then there was this from news reports

AP and mcclatchy..

950 a month for private
750 a month for public

200 saved by public by "SQUEEZING" drs and hospitals..something private CANT DO.....

RESULT

RATIONING....

GREAT BRITIAN>.........breat cancer rates are EIGHTEEEN points higher than ours
WHY??? how about one reason...mamogram exam considered to be best ISNT GIVEN..
WHY?>? cost too much

AND a hip replacement has a TWO year wait ON NORMAL timelines....

THIS is your healtch care future if you allow yoursleves and the country to be DUPED Again..

so it will be easy to stop you say????

WRONG according to senator dement..

he said this morning that the DEMS will absolutely use any blackmail, or coerision to get this through even if it means putting it in as a rider to a military spending bill for instance to make it harder for repubs to vote for.

surely none of you doubt thats a definite possibility

I love the word "sale".

Re-affirms the fact that the prices are over-inflated and profit margins are exceptionally high.

:)