Home
Archive
Newsletters
Video
Blogs
Discuss
About
Search
Donate
Advertise

'Disease Care' Industry Likes Obama's Approach to Health Reform

By AlterNet Staff, AlterNet. Posted March 5, 2009.


Obama has chosen a modest approach to health care reform, and that suits industry just fine.

Share and save this post:

      

      

Share on Facebook       

AlterNet Social Networks:
follow us on twitter
find us on Facebook

In Special Coverage

Belief:
What if People Actually Treated Religion as Just a Metaphor (Like Trekkies and Secular Jews)?
Greta Christina

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
What Happened to That Prosperity Tax-Cutters Promised Us?
Sam Pizzigati

DrugReporter:
The War on Weed: Marijuana Is Basically Harmless -- The Monumentally Stupid Drug War Is Not
Jim Hightower

Environment:
20 Weird, Crazy Ideas for Helping the Earth

Food:
10 Tips for a Sustainable Thanksgiving
Sarah Newman

Health and Wellness:
Is the House's Health Bill Really Worse than Nothing?
Joshua Holland

Immigration:
Hate Group, FAIR, Is Looking for "Ethnically Ambiguous" Actors to Amplify Its Racism
Adam Luna

Media and Technology:
The Memory Scrub About Why Ft. Hood Happened Is Almost Complete ... If It Weren't for Archives
Mark Ames

Movie Mix:
The Yes Men: Pranksters Out to Fix the World
Mark Engler

Politics:
Just When You Thought It Was Safe: 3 Potential Obstacles to Health-Care Reform
Adele M. Stan

Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Why Can't We Look Away From Sarah Palin?
Vanessa Richmond

Rights and Liberties:
Obama Quietly Backs Renewing Patriot Act Surveillance Provisions
Willam Fisher

Sex and Relationships:
Hot Mormon Muffins and Models for Jesus: What's With All the Sexy Christians?
Liz Langley

Take Action:
G-20 Meetings: Nothing Much Happened in the Suites, and There Was Too Much Punch in the Streets
Laura Flanders

Water:
Poseidon's Financial Shell Game: Why Is a Private Desalination Plant Asking for Public Money?
Peter Gleick

World:
Obama Will Announce 34,000-Troop Escalation in Afghanistan 'Within Days'

More stories by AlterNet Staff

Advertisement
Upcoming AlterNet stories on Digg

The Washington Post's Dan Eggen and Ceci Connolly report that the health care industry is breathing a sigh of relief as a result of Barack Obama's early signals on reform:

Just four months ago, the pharmaceutical industry was prepared for the worst. Drugmakers feared that Barack Obama would press for price controls on prescription drugs and readied plans for a multimillion-dollar ad campaign against the idea.

Instead, Obama chose a more modest approach after becoming president, proposing to extract bigger discounts on medications bought through Medicaid. The plan could save the drug companies billions a year compared with price controls.

"This is a great start," said W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, a former House member from Louisiana who now runs the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), referring to Obama's health-care plan. "There are things we don't like about it. But there's time to discuss all that."

Obama's opening gambit to dramatically expand the health-care system has attracted surprising notes of support from insurers, hospitals and other players in the powerful medical lobby who are set to participate in an unusual White House summit on the issue this afternoon. The lure for the industry is the prospect of tens of millions of new customers: If Obama succeeds in fulfilling his pledge to cover many more Americans, those newly insured people will get checkups, purchase medicine, undergo physical therapy and get surgeries they cannot afford today.

Read the complete article here.


Digg!    Share on facebook   submit to reddit    Bookmark on Delicious   Stumble This  

See more stories tagged with: health, obama, reform

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »


Advertisement
Advertisement

 

Comments Turn comments off sitewide Give us feedback »
Comments closed.
The comments for this story have been closed. Thank you to everyone who participated.
View:
There you have it.
Posted by: SpiderWoman on Mar 9, 2009 2:09 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If this doesn't make it clear to the naysayers who think that the medical industry has their best health interests at heart, then nothing will.

The medical disease industry is corrupt throughout - Big Pharma, hospitals, insurers, and doctors, too. There are a few exceptions, of course - the ones who prove the rule.

This industry sees people as nothing more than sources of profit. The costs to the individuals (and I'm not referring to dollars) don't matter - as long as the dollars keep balling up in their pockets.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

  • AlterNetYour turn

Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.


Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.

Advertisement
Advertisement