August 6, 2009
HOW MUCH IS THAT UNICORN RIDER IN THE WINDOW...:
White House Affirms Deal on Drug Cost (DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, 8/06/09, NY Times)
Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion.Posted by Orrin Judd at August 6, 2009 12:18 PMDrug industry lobbyists reacted with alarm this week to a House health care overhaul measure that would allow the government to negotiate drug prices and demand additional rebates from drug manufacturers.
In response, the industry successfully demanded that the White House explicitly acknowledge for the first time that it had committed to protect drug makers from bearing further costs in the overhaul. The Obama administration had never spelled out the details of the agreement.
