Step into the way back machine and visit the early days of the health debate….recall that Obama came out and said that the drug companies were on board and that they would cut $80 billion over a number of yewars.  It was held as a great deal and that the companies were willing to work with the admin to lower health costs.

That was then…this is now……

Kate Randall writing for wsws.org:

The Obama White House has acknowledged it made a deal with drug makers to block moves in Congress to obtain any cost savings beyond the $80 billion already agreed to by the pharmaceutical lobby.

The New York Times reported Thursday that, in return for the $80 billion agreement, the Obama administration pledged that it would work to block any health care legislation that would allow the government to negotiate price-setting on drugs.

The deal is further evidence of the corporate forces calling the shots in Obama’s health care overhaul. While touring the country claiming the plan will make the health care giants’ “honest,” the administration is cutting behind-the-scenes deals to protect and boost their profits.

Details about the pharmaceuticals’ $80 billion offer have been vague, but they will likely come—not as a handout by the drug industry—but in the form of lower patient co-pays on prescriptions, or as modest discounts on reimbursements to the industry for expanded government-backed medical coverage.

In an industry that generates annual US sales of more than $300 billion, the $80 billion is minimal. The more likely scenario is that $80 billion will be more than offset by the increased profits the pharmaceutical industry stands to make on prescriptions purchased by new patients under insurance coverage that they would be mandated to purchase under the new health care legislation.

And you thought all was moving along swimmingly….think again.

Once again the Obama Admin is making concessions to the industry that is profitting heavily from the current health situation in the US.  The Dems have taken away the single payer option, the public option looks doomed and now they are tryiong to protect the drug industry from any accountability for their gouging of the American people.

I have said and written on many occassions that if there is a health care bill for the president to sign that it will fall far short of the intention of covering ALL Americans for their health care.  I think there will be a deal, but not something that the President can be proud of in future debates.

Once again, as usual, the American people will be the losers and the politicians will get their blood money from the industry.