Friday, June 15, 2012

Big Pharma Cronyism

The 6/11/2012 Wall Street Journal discusses, "ObamaCare's Secret History".

It includes sordid details of cronyism by the drug industry, which threw its support behind ObamaCare in exchange for various political favors (such as having their way on the "drug reimportation" issue).

A teaser from the article:
The business refrain in those days was that if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. But it turns out Big Pharma was also serving as head chef, maître d'hotel and dishwasher. Though some parts of the story have been reported before, the emails make clear that ObamaCare might never have passed without the drug companies.
Thank you, Pfizer.
(Read the full text of "ObamaCare's Secret History".)

As David Catron notes, "Ironically, reimportation was a bad idea that could have been fought honestly. But Big Pharma decided on a quisling strategy. In the end, they’ll get the shaft just like their fellow collaborators in the AMA."