Carper Fights For His Base
Earlier this year Carper voted with the Republicans to block an amendment to allow Medicaid and Medicare to negotiate drug prices. It caused quite a stir because Carper railed against the unfairness of hurting the profits of drug companies.
Carper is doing it again. Byron Dorgan has filed an amendment to allow drug reimportation from Canada. Carper has placed a hold on the amendment:
The White House, aided by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), is working hard to crush an amendment being pushed by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) to allow for the reimportation of pharmaceutical drugs from Canada, Senate sources tell the Huffington Post.
As a result, the Senate health care debate has come to a standstill: Carper has placed a “hold” on Dorgan’s amendment and in response, Dorgan tells HuffPost, he’ll object to any other amendments being considered before he gets a vote on his.
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) is a lead co-sponsor of Dorgan’s amendment. She said she’s confident that, as of now, they have the votes they need. “I think that’s why we’re not having this vote,” she said, smiling. The amendment has the support of a number of other Republicans, including Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Charles Grassley (Iowa), John Thune (S.D.) and David Vitter (La.).
Drug reimportation is when the U.S. imports drugs from Canada. When we do this we get lower prices because of Canada’s nationalized health care system. Canada’s government negotiates with pharmaceutical companies on behalf of its citizens and because the Canadian government represents such a large group it can get lower prices for its drugs. When Medicare Part D was passed, it explicitly prevented Medicare from negotiating drug prices. In other words, the Republican-sponsored bill protected the pharmaceutical company practice of gouging American consumers.
I believe the amendment co-sponsors probably have good intentions but there are many ways for pharmaceutical companies to get around reimportation. The most obvious way is to only supply enough drugs for the Canadian population. Obviously the best way to lower our drug prices is to allow Medicare and the new public option to negotiate drug prices, but we live in bizzaro-world, where corporate profits must be maintained over the health and welfare of the American people.
Obviously, Carper is voting for the interests of the pharmaceutical companies and the administration is hoping the maintain the secret deal it never should have made with pharmaceutical companies. I have to add that the pharmaceutical companies are probably happy with the way the reform has played out. They are protected either way (status quo or reform) and they haven’t had to dirty their hands fighting the deal. The insurance industry and the Republican status-quo defenders (with big assists from confused teabaggers) have fought the reform and the pharmaceutical industry just has to sit back and watch and has managed to keep its hands clean. Not bad.
Tags: Big Pharma, Health Care Reform, Tom Carper
John Manifold and/or Belinsky will show up to defend this in 3…2….1….
Let me start by saying that I do NOT support blind tort reform. I strongly support the right of injured individuals to find relief in court, and to have the threat of this to more effectively encourage pharmaceutical companies make better (from a consumer’s perspective) decisions (avoid cutting corners) regarding drugs with dangerous side-effects.
That said, it is quite likely that one (of several) reasons that drug prices (for the same stinking pill) is lower in Canada than in the US is that the US builds in a more involved FDA process, and has stronger liability exposure to the pharmaceutical companies.
I suspect (but do not know) that if you take a Canadian-sourced pill, and feel that you are harmed, you may not have the same avenues of remedy than you would if you took a US-sourced pill.
I have no problem with that–let me choose to pay $10 for a Canadian prescription rather than $100 for a US prescription (of the same pills), knowing that the savings comes at a cost of less relief if something goes poorly, and perhaps less assurance that if a few cases of bad side-effects show up, I may not be notified (as promptly, or at all) if I take the $10 route.
Does anyone have good information as to whether my suspicion of limited relief is correct, for pharmaceuticals purchased by a US citizen in the US, from a Canadian supplier?
The biggest reason why drugs in the US cost more is about cost-shifting. Other countries negotiate lower prices for their drugs, but the pharmaceutical companies are able to charge what they want in the US and make their margins plus some every year. Changing that cost-shifting model is why Carper and the pharmaceutical companies he represents are working so hard to make sure that nothing changes.
I don’t think that I’ve ever seen an analysis of why we pay so much for drugs that puts tort issues up at the top of the list. Much like medical tort reform, the savings to the overall system are quite slight and I expect the same to be true for drugs too.
The FDA approval process (the part borne by the drug companies) is priced into the life-cycle cost of the drugs, as is the initial inspection of plants. But (especially for foreign plants) there is little FDA oversight once production is up and running.
Time wrote a decent article on this a few years back.
Remember, a big part of expenditures for drug companies is for advertising. They pay more for advertising than they do for R&D.
thanks for not getting on my case for raising this question, and thanks for the Time article link.
“(Drug companies) pay more for advertising than they do for R&D.” Thank you Ronald Reagan!!
Here’s another post I was looking for from Ezra Klein — these amazing charts that show why it is that our health care costs are so high which includes a chart for the price of Lipitor in several other countries. A good visual representation of the cost shifting that goes on by pharmaceuticals here.
I have come to the conclusion that Carper does not work for the drug companies, he works for his campaign checking account. Just like the Twighlight Zone episode when the ventriloquist dummy comes to life and torments its master – Carper’s checking account has come to life and it is a malevolent son of a bitch. We should not hate Carper for his crazy ass choices, but pity him as working for a checking account that is constantly threatening to kill you must be a drag.
Cassandra, both of your links are very informative. Just more for us Americans to be ashamed, as we continue to put up with this craziness of excessive corporate favoritism. But then the high drug prices benefit our state with jobs and tax revenues. This poses a dilemma! I suspect that this benefit to the state falls short when compared to the liability (higher drug prices) to the rest of us. Has this ever been studied, does anyone know? I’m going to pose this question to Tom Carper’s office.
Perry
“Has this ever been studied, does anyone know? I’m going to pose this question to Tom Carper’s office.”
Good luck, all you get back is a letter, unrealted to the subject, rambling on about how much he knows….etc. I got a box full of them.
Now, wanna bet? !!!!!!
Frieda is right. I think that is what is so galling to people who are cursed with the desire to pay attention. Tom Carper simply does not give a fuck about what constituents think. He mocks Delawareans with his votes and statements and his staff mocks them with boilerplate half-assed responses.
Carper never sends anything but a stock reply. He must have a closet full of letters to send to constituents. They all end with something like “if I can be of service, please do not hesitate to contact my office.” Fuck off. He’s a total tool.
For a good analysis of why health care costs so much more in the U.S. than just about anywhere else, check out “The Healing of America” by T.R. Reid. Here’s a link — http://www.amazon.com/Healing-America-Global-Better-Cheaper/dp/1594202346/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260656904&sr=1-1. I got it at the Brandywine Hundred library.
I suspect (but do not know) that if you take a Canadian-sourced pill, and feel that you are harmed, you may not have the same avenues of remedy than you would if you took a US-sourced pill.
*
That’s an interesting point Paul. I watched Dorgan on the Senate floor putting up the relative prices of common scripts and it was something. Up to ten times as much is shelled out here. Dorgan is claiming that only drugs with the proper ‘chain of purity’ or whatever it is called would be reimported – no filthy chinese products. So, if it is a carefully documented and safe pill, one might assume that liability issues are covered.
But then the high drug prices benefit our state with jobs and tax revenues.
*
More like protects the profit margin on dividends. Anyone know how much stock Carper has in AZ?
Just send another industry off shore, we have plenty left.
David hates government but loves serfdom.
David apparently doesn’t know that a lot of our drugs are made offshore already.
But David probably knows that thanks to Tom Carper’s tariff subsidy program, drug companies escape paying taxes on the little bit of assembly that is done in the United States.
It’s probably wisest to leave this at… David apparently doesn’t know
if david was never able to play the role of contrarian, he wouldn’t exist.
let’s call it the Retarded Obi-Wan technique.
“you don’t need health care; the free market will cure your colitis.”
Canada buys drugs from all over the world. They only deal with companies that have proven high quality, ie. do not purchase from China or India. American drug companies pay for news rooms advertising, advertising of new drugs often the same ole drug with one little ingredient that is different. Liptor is made in Ireland and both Canada and the US buy it from them. Canada pays $1.45, while the US pays over $4.00. The US is the only country in the world who pays such a high price…capitalism and their profiteering is to blame.
Carper gets big bucks from BigPharma (right here in Delaware), he also happens to live in the “corporate State”, and therefore owes nothing to the citizens of Delaware, his allegiances are to the corporations. On the issue to Tort Reform. Tort reform is only 1% of the health care budget, no worth dealing with. Citizens who have been harmed by doctors hospitals and care providers should have the ability to sue the shit of those companies. Its as american as apple pie.
Willing says: “the high cost of drugs benefit our state”…Nancy put down the bottle…geesh.