Obama caves to health care industry in record time:

It says the White House agreed to oppose any congressional efforts to use the government’s leverage to bargain for lower drug prices or import drugs from Canada — and also agreed not to pursue Medicare rebates or shift some drugs from Medicare Part B to Medicare Part D, which would cost Big Pharma billions in reduced reimbursements.

In exchange, the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) agreed to cut $80 billion in projected costs to taxpayers and senior citizens over ten years. Or, as the memo says: “Commitment of up to $80 billion, but not more than $80 billion.”

So the government agrees not to pressure drug companies, and the drug companies promise to cut $80 billion over ten years. To compare, Americans spent 2.7 trillion dollars on health care in 2007. Assuming zero inflation, in the next 10 years the health industry promises to reduce costs up to, but not more than, 0.3%. Of course there will be inflation, so the real percentage will be much lower, not to mention the difficulty in enforcing this agreement.

This is turning bad even faster than I imagined.

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