Deal on drug prices collapsed due to WH insistence on "Trump cards"

[Tanuki]

AKA ham-fIsted bribe to seniors.

Lhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/us/politics/trump-drug-prices.html#click=https://t.co/lCNVmuWeRw

"After months of heated accusations and painstaking negotiations, the White House and the pharmaceutical industry neared agreement late last month on a plan to make good on President Trump’s longstanding promise to lower drug prices.

The drug companies would spend $150 billion to address out-of-pocket consumer costs and would even pick up the bulk of the co-payments that older Americans shoulder in Medicare’s prescription drug program.

Then the agreement collapsed. The breaking point, according to four people familiar with the discussions: Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, insisted the drug makers pay for $100 cash cards that would be mailed to seniors before November — “Trump Cards,” some in the industry called them.

Some of the drugmakers bridled at being party to what they feared would be seen as an 11th-hour political boost for Mr. Trump, the people familiar with the matter said."....(more)

[BigmanPigman]

1. Could I hate the GOP/tRump any more than I do?

Nope, not possible. I had to close my windows since I have been ranting all day (to myself) and the Secret Service probably has me on their radar by now.

[riversedge]

2. So, #TRump wanted to BRIBE folks with small checks which they would recieve before Nov. Election!!

No doubt he would have his signature on the checks also.

[rickyhall]

6. Worked for W.

Those little $300 check some people got. (Mine was $60, BFD)

[SleeplessinSoCal]

3. yikes! the drug companies are the heroes in this story.

We are definitely in the End Times. Or Hell has frozen over. With the wacky weather patterns from CC, it's a coin toss.

[dansolo]

7. Not really

The Trump administration wanted the drug companies to pay for them, effectively giving an in-kind contribution to the Trump re-election campaign. The drug companies aren't really the "good guys" here. They just refuse to be extorted.

[kysrsoze]

4. The biggest f*cking asshole in the world

This second grade/Pablo Escobar-type shit. I’m partly astounded and partly not.

[yuiyoshida]

5. Trump Cards??

I may not be a senior, but I don't know of anyone who would want a "Trump Card" even if it was worth 100 bucks. Because some how that money is going right into that bastards back pocket!

[sinkingfeeling]

8. To MF45 all it takes is money. Just like is sudden interest in

Puerto Rico, after 3 years of treating them like sh*t.

[SammyWinstonJack]

9. A$$hole Maggot. Isn't it bragging about how it lowered drug prices, even now?