House Democrats Push Back On Obama Plan To Cut Drug Prices

[babylonsister]

Remind me, who do they work for again?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/house-democrats-hhs-drug-prices_us_5720e639e4b0b49df6a9c93f


House Democrats Push Back On Obama Plan To Cut Drug Prices
Pharmaceutical companies hate the new plan, and Democrats have noticed.
04/27/2016 01:14 pm ET | Updated 12 minutes ago

Ryan Grim
Washington bureau chief for The Huffington Post
Jeffrey Young
Health Care Reporter, The Huffington Post



WASHINGTON — A group of House Democrats is organizing an effort to slow down an Obama administration plan to reduce drug prices, according to a letter obtained by The Huffington Post.

The Department of Health and Human Services is working toward finalizing a new rule that would experiment with ending the financial incentive doctors have for prescribing some extremely expensive medications. The rule has been well-received among some patient advocates, but congressional Democrats have been largely silent, while the pharmaceutical industry and medical community have waged an aggressive campaign to stop it.

The campaign is bearing fruit. The letter being circulated among House Democrats uses the oldest move in the opposition playbook — warning of the dreaded unintended consequences. “We have concerns about the proposed payment model and its potential for unintended effects on beneficiaries and the physician community,” it reads, offering that, of course, they support the goal of the policy, just not the way it’s being done.

“A number of members have expressed concern about the scope and size of this initiative while recognizing problems with current payment rules,” said Drew Hammill, a spokesman for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.). “Leader Pelosi hopes that CMS will continue to actively engage members and advocacy organizations as the particulars of this test are finalized.”

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/house-democrats-hhs-drug-prices_us_5720e639e4b0b49df6a9c93f

[think]

1. K&R. This is disturbing...

[jpak]

3. How can Pharms make money and Docs treat patients with those cheap Canadian drugs

in the Great White North?

Unintended consequences my ass...

yup

[RKP5637]

4. F! Some days I really have to check what political party I support! FFS!!! n/t

[world wide wally]

5. Even Bernie can't fight a city hall like this

[RKP5637]

7. Many democrats are like republicans, but many in the democratic party still don't get it.

Damn, and this is yet another reason I changed my registration to unaffiliated. All the time, the democratic party moves further and further away from me.

[Autumn]

6. Corporate whores as a wise man once said

Thank you Dr Song.

[RKP5637]

8. And we're all supposed to unite behind the NEW democratic party. Yeah, right! F that!!! n/t

[SoapBox]

17. Thank you Autumn.

100% agree.

[Scuba]

9. If ...

"If the Democratic Party would fight as hard for the Working Class as the Republican Party fights for the Ruling Class, the Republicans would be a powerless minority party within a few election cycles.

The Democratic Party knows this, the Republican Party knows this, the Ruling Class knows this- and they've been astonishingly successful at making sure the Working Class never learns this. ~ Anon

[mountain grammy]

19. That says it all..

[malaise]

10. Who do they work for??

Let me see - Big Pharma and the DNC

[cloudbase]

11. How would Pelosi know what's in the bill

before it's passed?

[annabanana]

12. names.. I WANT NAMES!

Which house Dems specifically are "expressing concern". I sure as hell hope it's not mine.. She will HEAR from me if her name is on that list!

[sarge43]

14. Yes indeed

If mine is in on this (Kuster), I'll chew on some ankles

[djean111]

13. This is where the "corporate whore" thing comes into play.

And this is why the Democratic Party has left me, on its greasy slide to the right.
No mas.

[curiouso]

15. Name names!

Is it just me or is there anyone else who doesn't know what the hell the "CMS" is?
I can't find an antecedent in this story.
And I'd like to know the names of the Democrats who signed this letter - and precisely what THEIR alternative is to what Obama is proposing. And while they're at it, how about if they explain why they didn't put into action their better idea - or at very least propose it - BEFORE Obama took the initiative.
It can't been because they've been too busy.
Nobody in Congress has done anything year except cash their checks and solicit campaign contributions.
(Perhaps they've been working on an initiative declaring September National Sweet Pickle month.)

[Old Codger]

16. shit

They don't even pretend anymore

[SoapBox]

18. ...they make me sick.

Fucking assholes.

[KPN]

20. Dear God -- please help us!

[Pakid]

21. What the Hell

Now our own party has to help put the knife in our backs Thanks for nothing, drug price are already way to high in America compared to the rest of the world. I am sure that the TPP will fix that . The whole world can have high drug prices then!!

[MisterP]

22. "President TISA's proposal is just too lefty for us!"

[Ferd Berfel]

23. Expect a lot more of this from the Corporate stooges

Whether it's Clinton or Drumph (or who ever the Reich puts up after their Bait n Switch Convention) it doesn't matter.
The neo-dem corporate stooges are energized by Clintons' prospects.

The rest of us, and democracy are screwed

[pansypoo53219]

24. profiteering off the medical industrial complex.

[LS_Editor]

25. Disgusting. And you know who won't even try to fix it? Hillary Clinton.

[tonyt53]

26. And you know this for certain because?

[LS_Editor]

27. History.

[brewens]

28. I rarely watch the regular old network and local tv except for the local news broadcast.

It's been this way for awhile but this year it seems way worse. All the medical related commercial spots. One outfit especially in the nearest city called Gamma Scan or something like that. Promoting themselves as the best cancer treatment option. There are a few things about that and all the pharmaceutical spots that are disturbing.

Wouldn't there be a kind of reverse placebo effect from all that crap? A guy goes into the doctor already convinced what treatment or drugs he needs. His doctor disagrees and prescribes what he thinks is best. So now you have an unhappy patient that thinks his doctor is doing the wrong thing. Why aren't a lot of doctors up in arms over that? It has to piss them off.

Then also aren't all kinds of local businesses getting beat out of commercial spots? The three major network stations we get (four now actually with FOX) are in the city 100 miles away. We used to get their spots for the big car dealerships, the main stereo and tv dealer and all kinds of advertisement. They were effective. You knew what you wanted to check out when you went up there. All those guys are being beat out by competition from all the medical stuff.

[jwirr]

29. I knew that I would be saying to her supporters "I told you

so." But I did not expect to be saying it so soon.