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What happened to the drug deal announced by the White House and Finance Committee?
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Sen Max Baucus announced a deal with the pharmaceutical industry that was to have saved $80 billion
It was only a few months ago that Sen. Max Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and the White House announced an agreement with the pharmaceutical industry to trim 8 billion dollars a year from the cost of drugs taken by Americans.
This savings was supposed to amount to 80 billion over the next 10 years. The cuts were largely to benefit Americans on Medicare and the federal government by offering rebates for popular prescription drugs.
The language of this agreement remains a part of the Senate Finance Committee bill. But today the New York Times reported, in what can only be called an end run around the agreement , that the pharmaceutical industry has raised prices on so many Name Brand drugs that the savings, at least for year one,are all but wiped out.
Prices for generic drugs have fallen, but according to Stephen W. Schondelmeyer, a professor of pharmaceutical economics at the University of Minnesota, name brand drugs account for more than 78% of all prescription drugs sold in the United States.
Many Americans are not filling their prescriptions now because of cost
Drug manufacturers deny that recent price increase have anything to do with the health care reform bills. But he cost of prescription drug medication has risen about 9%.. At the same time the consumer price index fell about 1.5%.
The pharmaceutical industry says it has to maintain a certain profit level in order to continue to invest in research and development of new drugs.
Many of the most popular prescription drugs will see the end of their patent protection within the next few years. Once a drug’s patent expires, the drug can be manufactured in a generic form at a much lower cost to consumers.
The questions now is will the Senate Finance Committee and the White House attempt to renegotiate with the pharmaceutical industry to gain back the concessions they announced previously?
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