The irony is Obama is moving away from socialized medicine and caving to the drug companies at the same time the know-nothings are screaming socialized medicine. In other words, the problem is not that Obama’s plan is too socialistic but that it’s not socialistic enough. The American people are beginning to see him as a compromiser willing to throw away negotiations for lower drug prices to get the support of the drug industry. If the Republicans knew anything, which they don’t, this is where they could be attacking Obama instead of screaming socialized medicine.
This is what I learned today after reading Is Obama Punking Us? by Frank Rich, If Private Industry Loves Obama’s Healthcare Plan, Americans Will Hate It by Allison Kilkenny, and FLASHBACK: Obama Promises to Let the Government Negotiate Medicare Drug Prices by Huffington Post.
UPDATE: It’s not over yet!
We still need to keep the heat on Congress and the White House to make sure that whatever lands on Obama’s desk gives Medicare and any Public Insurance Plan the same power to negotiate with drug companies as the VA has.
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Tags: allison kilkenny, frank rich, medicare, medicare drug prices, Obama healthcare plan, socialized medicine
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You must be back to 100%.
Yay! Good to have you back at 100% again 
Now…no more experimenting with evil pharmaceuticals, and no more diarrhea talk, OK? heheee 
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I feel like Obama just can’t win here… it sucks. Because Americans are really missing the point here.
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Hey, great to hear from you, Debi and Zhu. Yup, I’m back to my old feisty self, Debi, except I was ready with constipation talk a couple days ago.
Yes, Zhu, it sucks! Obama has been caving too much to blue dogs, insurance, and pharma. But how else can he get a bill passed in this stupid country!? Just hope there’s something left after it passes. And it had better pass, or I’m moving to Cuba!! (Well, just kidding I think)
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i just hope it ends up something similar to the canadian system.
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Right, Joe, that would be great but the crazies are on the loose now and the mainstream media gives them equal time. Hopefully fewer and fewer people are watching the likes of Katie Curic, Charles Gibson, and Brian Williams on CBS, ABC, and NBC, respectively, controlled as they are by their corporate masters. But they still have influence.
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While I sometimes get frustrated at what President Obama seems to trade away too easily, I often find that he has a better strategic sense than I do. Better to get something passed and then have something to work on to improve than to get nothing passed.
$80 billion concession is just the beginning, but it is a pretty big beginning. To negotiate $80 billion in concessions for the cost of giving up immediate negotiations sounds like it may be a fairly decent deal no matter what you may call it.
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Yes, Steve, I often think that Obama, together with Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, really do know what they are doing politically and are realists. You’re absolutely right: better to have something to work on than nothing. The only question is where to draw the line. I get frustrated too, but hopefully as you say they have a better strategic sense — knowing all the players — than we do.
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