Jim Webb's vote in favor of the McCain motion to commit was not a lapse of concentration, apparently:
I voted in favor of the McCain amendment because I do not believe it is reasonable to cut back on Medicare funding at a time when the pool for Medicare is going to expand as the Baby Boom generation reaches retirement age. Further, I am a long-time supporter of Medicare Advantage programs which have in my view greatly improved services in rural areas such as Southside and Southwest Virginia.
Now, I'm no expert in this, and I'm open to the possibility that the Medicare cuts which are paying for a lot of the cost of the bill will hurt patients. Other centrist Dems weren't persuaded, though.
drug-makers have embraced a startlingly simple tactic for fending off competition from generic brands: paying them off. In a nutshell, the company that holds the patent on a profitable drug strikes a deal with the maker of the cheaper generic brand: you hold off on marketing your generic for several years, and in return, we'll give you a share of our profits on the drug.
After getting a fair wind from the FTC under Bush (with judicial backup), this practice is now being targeted by the FTC (but this needs a SCOTUS decision to reverse existing caselaw, so...).
However, Kohl has an amendment to HR 3590 down (SA 2862) to beef up the Hatch-Waxman Act of 1984 to kibosh the practice legislatively (reminder to self of Chris's list of amendments with links).
This will collect 60 votes when hell freezes over; and, in case you're wondering,
The White House - despite its well-publicized deal with PhRMA - is said to be supportive, but has a host of other pressing priorities for the health-care bill.
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