McCain, Obama agree it's time to get tough with drug industry
WASHINGTON - The presidential candidates may have very different overall proposals to changing the nation's health care system, but Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama both talk tough about taking on the pharmaceutical industry.
Both say they would lower drug prices by increasing competition from generic drugs, allow importation of prescription drugs from other countries, and try to cut the price the government pays for drugs for senior citizens, although they would do so in different ways.
"We know one thing," said Jack Calfee, a health care expert at the American Enterprise Institute. "We're going to have an administration that's hostile to the industry."
Obama frequently promises on the campaign trail to "take on the drug and insurance companies and hold them accountable for the prices they charge and the harm they cause."
After McCain criticized drug companies during a GOP primary debate for blocking importation of prescription drugs from Canada, one of his fellow GOP contenders admonished McCain not to turn drug companies "into the bad guys."
McCain shot back: "Well, they are."
"This is an area where (McCain and Obama) tend to be in more agreement," said Jennifer Tolbert, a principal policy analyst at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, which has compared the candidates' health care proposals. "But it's key that both candidates see prescription drugs as an area that needs to be focused on as part of a strategy to reduce overall health care costs."
