In anticipation of the health care summit this Thursday and as promised, President Obama “unveiled proposed healthcare legislation that includes provisions designed to improve access to prescription drugs and increase generic drug availability.” The overall total spending for the bill expected to cost $950 billion over 10 years and provide coverage to more than 31 million uninsured Americans.
The bill also includes an increase in the fees the pharmaceutical industry pays starting in 2011. The increase is expected to help close the Medicare "donut-hole" gap for prescription drug coverage, “which leaves seniors paying the full cost of medicines.” In fact, Mr. Obama’s plan this time completely closes the gap, a change from the bill passed in the House in December.
Consequently, his new proposal increases requirements on the pharmaceutical industry over 10 years by “$10 billion above the $23-billion increase proposed under the Senate bill.” These fees however, will not be implemented until 2011. To support these changes, the administration asserted that the increased money will result in expanding health coverage and closing the donut hole, giving the pharmaceutical industry new revenue.
With regards to the drug industry as well, Obama’s proposal gives the Federal Trade Commission the authority to address the practice of "pay for delay" agreements between brand name and generic drug manufacturers. In doing so, the President hopes to increase access to generic drugs.
The particular provision would prohibit “generic drug manufacturers from accepting anything of value from a brand-name manufacturer that contains a provision in which the generic drug manufacturer agrees to limit or forgo research, development, marketing, manufacturing or sales of the generic drug." Such deals could only be reached if the parties "demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that the pro-competitive benefits of the agreement outweigh the anti-competitive effects of the agreement."
Other features include:
· Taxes on high value insurance plans
· Mandates on Individuals to buy insurance
· Employer mandates with fines of up to $2,000 per employee
· Medicare taxes on investment income (this will go over big with the AARP crowd)
· Regulated insurance premiums
While the plan will be debated Thursday at the bipartisan healthcare summit, many Republicans are angered. House Republican leader John Boehner said Obama was “undermining the Feb. 25 meeting by proposing the same massive government takeover of health care based on a partisan bill the American people have already rejected.” Ultimately, this attempt for an “opening bid” for the health care summit may end up being the only bid.
The president’s proposal is surprisingly short (25 pages, utilizing short narrative paragraphs) in comparison, the House and Senate bills are each over 2,000 pages long. One would hope that the president’s bill would be shorter and presented soon after the summit. The plan is optimistic but short on details.
Links to Proposal and Key Documents