Editor's Corner

In a little over a week from now, there's a special election in California
with several propositions on the ballot mostly to do with the political
future of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. But the two initiatives to do with drug
pricing (Props. 78 and 79) have seen an out-pouring of money, almost all of
it from drug companies. Their "Yes on 78, No on 79" commercials have
plastered the airwaves, and the non-partisan Healthvote.org shows that by
September 29 (i.e., not counting the last 10 days of campaigning) Big Pharma had donated nearly $80 million for the joint campaigns, versus less than $2 million spent by their opponents in favor of Prop 79.

The pluses or minuses of two propositions in one state are not the point of this
editorial. The point is that a powerful piece of the status quo (Big Pharma)
is prepared to spend so much to defend itself against what some might argue
is a relatively minor attack on their pricing policy in only one state. The
logical conclusion is that real reform of our health system, which will by
definition require changes to the economics of physicians, hospitals and
insurance companies, will meet even more vigorous resistance in defense of
the status quo. Optimists who believe that the development of a National
Health Information Network will cure healthcare's problems might do well to
note that the amount provided by Congress for that initiative to change the
entire health IT system is only a fraction more than the amount Big Pharma has rustled up for its single issue campaign in California. - Matthew

Post a comment