When the fox guards the chicken....

One of the main issues during the recent Presidential elections, and a key problem facing the country, is health care, or lack thereof. By some estimates, nearly fifty million people in the USA are without reasonable (or sometimes any) health insurance.
Obama, who had signaled that he would push for change on this issue, is now backtracking and kissing up to the elements that have driven up the costs of health care.
According to the NYT, "Doctors, hospitals, drug makers and insurance companies will join President Obama on Monday in announcing their commitment to a sharp reduction in the growth of national health spending, White House officials said Sunday. The officials said the plan could save $2,500 a year for a family of four in the fifth year and a total of $2 trillion for the nation over 10 years. That could make it less expensive for Congress to enact comprehensive health insurance coverage, a daunting challenge facing the Obama administration. At this point, administration officials said, they do not have a way to enforce the commitment, other than by publicizing the performance of health care providers to hold them accountable. By offering to hold down costs voluntarily, providers said, they hope to stave off new government price constraints that might be imposed by Congress or a National Health Board of the kind favored by many Democrats. In a letter addressed to Mr. Obama, six leaders of the health care industry say: “We will do our part to achieve your administration’s goal of decreasing by 1.5 percentage points the annual health care spending growth rate, saving $2 trillion or more. This represents more than a 20 percent reduction in the projected rate of growth.” The letter was signed by executives of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, a lobby for medical device manufacturers; the American Hospital Association; the American Medical Association; America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group for insurers; the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America; and the Service Employees International Union."

These organizations have vehemently opposed any type of restraints in the past, and continue to lobby effectively to kill any legislation that would impose regulations on their practices.

Reforming Drug Addicts...Rx companies, that is.

I have written about the drug companies many times, often with the line "How much profit should one person make from another person's pain?" Having worked as a strategy consultant to the pharma firms, I am acutely aware of the actions of the drug firms to influence doctors, patients, and others while stifling competition.

Neelie Kroes, the European competition commissioner, has the guts to call it like it is.
From the NYT...
Europe Accuses Drug Makers of Padding Health Care Costs By JAMES KANTER BRUSSELS — The European Union accused drug companies on Friday of adding billions of dollars to health care costs by delaying or blocking the sale of less expensive generic medicines. One common tactic, said Neelie Kroes, the European competition commissioner, was for drug companies to amass patents to protect active ingredients in the medicines — in one case, 1,300 patents for a single drug. Another tactic, she said, was for pharmaceutical companies to sue the makers of generic drugs for ostensible patent violations, which tended to delay the availability of the lower-cost products for years. Ms. Kroes made her comments Friday while presenting the preliminary findings of a broad investigation into accusations of anticompetitive practices in the drug sector. She also turned her sights on the generics companies, which she said had received $200 million from pharmaceutical companies over seven years in exchange for holding their products off the market.

Getting High BP fron Health Care Costs -

MSNBC reports:

"A survey being released Thursday by the Mercer consulting firm found 59 percent of companies intend to keep down rising health care costs in 2009 by raising workers’ deductibles, copays or out-of-pocket spending limits.

On average, health care costs will go up by an estimated 5.7 percent next year for both workers and their employers, the study found. That repeats this year’s 5.7 percent hike and a 6.1 percent jump in 2007."

One more reason to stay healthy and eat healthy, and one more data point for the students in my Sustainable Living course.