Is Health Care Reform About to Go the Way of No Child Left Behind?

The White House is in full scramble mode, trying to walk back last week's reports that the administration had struck a deal with Big Pharma promising to remove from its health care overhaul the ability of Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices.

But they can't walk back two essential facts: 1) the drug industry has drawn an $80 billion line in the sand -- that's the maximum amount of cost cutting it'll accept before withdrawing its support for health care reform, and 2) during the campaign Obama promised to repeal the ban on negotiating with drug companies, predicting it would result in as much as $310 billion in savings.

So even if the White House didn't explicitly promise to take price negotiations off the table, by agreeing to Big Pharma's $80 billion ceiling they've effectively done just that (the $150 million ad campaign the drug industry has promised to run in support of the president's health care plan only adds to the stench).

And if the right to negotiate drug prices is dead, so is the chance for meaningful reform.

The White House has now shown itself willing to cave on the two essential elements of real health care reform -- drug price negotiations and having a public option.

Both are crucial to containing costs. The right to negotiate drug prices is how free markets operate -- taking advantage of economies of scale and the bargaining power that comes with bulk purchasing. To give this up should be abhorrent to anyone who believes in a functioning capitalist system, as opposed to what we are increasingly becoming: an oligarchy of powerful interests. In the same way, having a public option is the only meaningful way to provide competition leading to lower insurance costs.

Giving us health care reform without those key ingredients is like serving a PBJ sandwich without the peanut butter or the jelly.

This white-bread-only reform makes no sense practically -- or politically. Health care reform that doesn't contain costs is destined to fail -- arming the GOP with a powerful "I told you so" cudgel to swing in 2010 and 2012.

Making matters worse, the chance to enact meaningful change doesn't come along often. And when the opportunity is squandered, it is lost for a long, long time. When reform that isn't reform passes, people check it off their list and move on -- and we are left with worse-than-no-reform boondoggles like No Child Left Behind and Bush's Medicare drug plan.

Robert Reich called the White House/Big Pharma deal -- or its wink-wink, no-deal-here equivalent -- "extortion."

For me, it's emblematic of precisely what Obama promised to put an end to: politics as usual where, as Frank Rich put it, "the American game is rigged" and (quoting Obama himself) the system is in hock to "the interests of powerful lobbyists or the wealthiest few" who have "run Washington far too long."

And it's not like the drug industry somehow pulled a fast one on the president. During the 2008 campaign, Obama was unequivocal on the issue. Here are some of the flashback quotes we put together for HuffPost's Obama vs. Obama story:

-- "Congress exempted Medicare from being able to negotiate for the cheapest available price. And that was a profound mistake."

-- "We will break the stranglehold that a few big drug and insurance companies have on the health care market."

-- "We're not going to get change unless we can overcome the resistance the drug companies, the insurance companies, the HMOs, those who are making a major profit from the system currently."

And from his campaign documents:

Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices.... Barack Obama and Joe Biden will repeal the ban on direct negotiation with drug companies and use the resulting savings, which could be as high as $310 billion, to further invest in improving health care coverage and quality.

"We'll tell the pharmaceutical companies 'Thanks but no thanks for overpriced drugs,'" Obama said in October. "We'll let Medicare negotiate for lower prices." From now on shall we just assume that "thanks but no thanks" really means "thanks"?

Obama also promised to hold all negotiations on C-SPAN. He hasn't. Instead we've had a week of White House statements, followed by anonymous White House briefings, followed by contradictory anonymous White House briefings, accompanied by the PhRMA drug lobbyists touting their agreement, followed by the lobbyists issuing "no comment" comments on their agreement, followed by the lobbyists walking back their touting of their agreement.

The health care industry has hired more than 350 former members of Congress and government staffers to lobby their former colleagues, and is spending around $1.4 million a day trying to maintain the status quo. Looks like it will be money well spent. With price control negotiations and the public option circling the drain, their victory is near complete.

The third fundamental element of real cost containment is getting serious about prevention -- shifting the focus of our health care system from treating sickness to preventing illness. As Einstein put it: "Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them." That's why HuffPost is committed to pursuing new lines of thinking on the health care debate -- including the importance of making changes to the lifestyle choices that greatly impact our health.

To this end, we are delighted to welcome Dr. Dean Ornish as our Medical Editor. He's a pioneer in promoting lifestyle changes and prevention as a path to better health, and will be writing both about personal health issues and about moving prevention front and center in the ongoing health care debate. See his latest post here. He'll also be recruiting writers with a wide range of perspectives on how to achieve wellness. This is a vital debate to have, because we clearly cannot continue down the current costly and inefficient health care path.

Remember when Obama kept presenting the fact that he hadn't been in Washington very long as a virtue? If real health care reform dies -- and the death of real health care reform is completely consistent with a Rose Garden signing ceremony of a "reform bill" -- I guess it will show that even six months in Washington is too long.

Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff

Comments

[creolechild]

If you are concerned about receiving "real" health care reform in this country, please take the time to watch a video on our current system. The video was created by Oregon physicians who are advocating for the single-payer option. The video is very informative and helped me to gain a better understanding of various aspect of health care, as we know now it.

https://www.madashelldoctorstour.com/Mad_as_Hell_Video.html

These Oregon physicians are in the process of organizing a caravan designed to inform the public about the benefits of the single-payer option. At last count they will be stopping in approximately 23 states, on their way to demonstrate in Washington. They need volunteers and our support. Please spread the word.

[jrizopatron]

In the struggle to pass the public option in health care reform (the best way to cover all Americans and stem the inflation in health care costs), it is crucial to educate the American public about this issue not only with facts and figures, but by prompting us all to critically reexamine our values and sense of ethical purpose as a people.
The "American Dream" seems to have mutated into a grotesque "dream of greed" over time. We can't let this continue. We must take a serious look at the direction our country has been going, with its over-emphasis on "ME AGAINST THE WORLD" and its growing paranoia at any suggestion of what we owe to one another and to society at large. Political extremists have gone way too far with their propaganda about "government being the problem". I wonder what Reagan would think about people showing up at town hall meetings with guns. We must examine the basic principles of our democracy... and discuss them civilly, in the public forum.
This is a PRECONDITION to make passing a universal health care bill in this country possible, without provoking an internal civil war. It is a matter of EDUCATION. The MEDIA, instead of wasting our time with celebrity scandals, quips over minor slips of the tongue, or cheap entertainment, should be primarily engaged in this critical educational task. I notice some have begun the effort. We need to keep at it. (Letter by my sister, Eileen Rizo-Patron)

[PrinceHal]

Arianna, surely you should be getting (& giving) bigger, better play for this piece on your own website.

Did anything more important than this become so absurdly crystal clear today?

Surely we who were counting on this "health care reform" effort -- for ourselves as much as for unfortunate millions who need it even more -- had our hearts broken more than once in the last few days.

Apparently it's all over but the shouting, and the Big Cheese himself can't veto it, because he's signed on to every comma before the opportunity to veto even presents itself.

[luckyt]

And the beat goes on, God save us from ourselves.

[leftbrnrightbrn]

Health care is already planted in the no child left behind graveyard. For different reasons, of course. The main one: People want the freedom to make their own health care choices, and they WILL have it.

[PrinceHal]

So I guess you know somebody who WILL make his/her own health care choices but can't pay for the doctors, the pills or the hospital? Tell me more.

[rocketman69]

Did anyone here really expect anything else? Really?

[politicscorner]

What's the compromise for No Public Option?

[politicscorner]

It looks more and more like the healthcare reform legislation that passes will be reform without meaningful reform.

This is like economic recovery without jobs. The only ones that benefit are the corporate rich. In the case of healthcare it is insurance companies and big pharma.

It's hard to see how how overall costs for healthcare coverage will be reduced broadly and for inidividuals and families. No one, certainly not insurers or pharma wants to reduce their profit margins without some form of compensation that will guarantee even greater profits.

At some point, Obama needs to stand for something.

[Patriot68]

He does stand for something. He stands for the big money people to have the ability to keep crushing us. The wall st. heist should have been sounding alarm bells but I guess everyone went back to sleep after the election was over.

We have been the perfect patsies at just the right time. We went for anything but bush when we should have been looking for a real leader. Not a man in pockets so deep he can't even see us. Nor does he care to by the looks of it.

I just wonder, what's next? What further injustice from this administration are we going to be subjected to?

[Patriot68]

Corporatism wins again. Oh well, I guess we are all just that gullible to believe a rookie with a bright smile and slick talk was actually going to do something for us. The whole of washington is bought and paid for and will remain so until the people do something about it. Are we going to have a brighter future or are we going to keep bending over and taking it?

[Kirk Kinder]

As a libertarian leaning individual, I usually don't agree with Arianna's viewpoints, but I do respect her integrity. She is not just a Democratic party shill that toes the party line. She has political values and will call out any Democratic politician who fails to adhere to the leftist positions.

The only other point is did you all really expect Obama to be anything but a politician? Does it really surprise you that all his campaign talk was just that? The Audacity of Hope indeed.

[Bongborg]

It just shows that what I always thought was right. If a Republican fixes your PB&J, you better check to make sure the brown stuff IS peanut butter.

[Hope Lives]

There is a reason that even though we seem to have a Democrtic Majoirty, we don't. Please read this article and you will see why President Obama can't get anything done. And until we bring these people to light and show them for what they are we will never control the US again.
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2009/8/13/5511/49602/Front_Page/_Hispanic_Karl_Rove_Helps_Shape_Third_Way_Democratic_Party_Platform

[Level7]

Get Bill Clinton to fight for us.

[NaplesMan]

(OK... Everyone who trusts insurance companies,... raise your hand!)

Almost nothing is simple, but in this case the evaluation actually IS!

No public option = FAILURE! (End of issue!)

[Amplifryer]

Consider these facts based on a 2007 CRS report to congress:

• In 2004, the United States spent more than twice as much on health care as the average OECD country (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), at $6,102 per person (compared with the OECD average of $2,560).

• Spending on health administration and insurance cost $465 per person (average) in the United States in 2004

Here's the question relative to costs:

Why is the debate framed around health insurance costs? Subtract that cost ($465) from $6,102 per person health care costs to total $5,637. So eliminating insurance entirely our health care cost per person would be $5,637 compared to an average cost of $2,560 for OECD countries.

Obviously there's things that can be done to improve competition among the 1300 U.S. providers and eliminate corruption where it exists. But this is obviously a red herring relative to total cost.

http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL34175_20070917.pdf

[PhilTListener]

I went to the web site of:
Landrieu, Pryor, Lincoln, Nelson and Conrad and sent this message:

"Though I am not a resident of your state, I will donate to any democrat who runs against you in the primaries if you are unwilling to support the public option for true competition to Insurance Companies. That is unacceptable to this lifelong democrat. Cooperatives are an insult to the intelligence of our party members."

Will it matter? Maybe if enough people get this message across it will.

Disclosure: I am a lifelong democrat from NYC who turned independent after moving to NH.