Lobbying influence

On Jan. 26 I wrote in "A few thoughts" about someone slipping into the "fiscal cliff" bill at the last minute a paragraph that gave a certain drug company another two years of high profits through extending the time in which Medicare is prevented from negotiating for lower prices.   The company is Amgen and the drug is used in kidney dialysis -- and apparently it is very expensive, at least as long as Amgen has the exclusive rights to make and sell it to Medicare.

Now Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Max Baucus (D-MT) have come forward to defend the inclusion (but the secrecy?).

Hatch's reasoning:   Rural doctors might not be able to handle dialysis if they are not able to get the drug and thus rural patients would suffer.

Oh, come on.   Nobody is saying that Amgen can no longer make and sell the drug.  The idea is for Medicare to be able to negotiate a lower price -- and potentially save $500 million over the next two years.  All that would change is Amgen's profit.

Of course, Amgen would like to be able to continue without having to negotiate a price or face competition from generic versions.   They're saying no one else will be able to make it, so doctors will have to substitute something else and may not know how to use the substitute safely.    Hatch implies that Amgen would just quit making the drug rather than settle for a lower profit.   Not likely.

This, folks, is why our medical bills are so high and why Medicare and drug costs are hurting our economy.   The pharmaceuticals are making a killing -- and they generously reward politicians who give them an advantage -- like Hatch and Baucus, both of whom sit high on the Senate Finance Committee and both have received big cash contributions from Amgen.  In addition, two former Baucus staff members now lobby for Amgen.

Hatch weeps falsely for the rural dialysis patients;  it's the taxpayers that both these greedy senators ought to be worrying about.  But why should they worry?   Hatch just got re-elected, and Baucus is retiring.   I hope their consciences keep them awake at night.

Ralph