PhRMA's Tauzin Sticks With Obama

Don't expect drug industry leader Billy Tauzin to roll over just because his old colleague John Boehner called him out.

Rep. Boehner, an Ohio Republican, sent a scathing letter Monday to Tauzin, a former Republican congressman who heads the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, saying that the drug industry cut a bad deal with the White House on health reform.

PhRMA, as the group is known, agreed to a cut a whopping $80 billion in costs from the health care system over the next 10 years to help sell President Obama's health reform plan. In addition, PhRMA will spend $150 million helping Obama market the reform, largely through advertising. In exchange, the drug companies have an agreement that the White House won't try to extract more concessions.

In a statement released this morning, PhRMA vice president Ken Johnson defended his group's role in the debate.

“We have been working diligently for more than a year to advance bipartisan health care reform," Johnson says. "We’re proud of those efforts, and they are completely consistent with our core principals, reflecting a fundamental belief that every single American should have access to high-quality, affordable health care coverage and services."

Equating the PhRMA-White house pact to a bully asking for lunch money, Boehner sent a strongly worded letter (made public) to Tauzin: "At your behest, PhRMA has chosen to accommodate a Washington takeover of health care at the expense of the American people in hopes of securing favorable treatment and future profits. It’s a short-sighted bargain that leaves your own customers and employees behind. And it now has all the markings of a deal gone sour."

Not only is Tauzin a former Republican congressman, but his trade group has been joined at the hip with the GOP. Republican candidates received generous donations from the association and critics charge the politicians responded with favorable legislation for the industry, including drug benefits for Medicare patients.

So what does the former Louisiana congressman and the drug industry do?

"They suck it up," says Joseph Antos, health policy expert at American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. "They foolishly made the deal, and unlike politicians, they're going to follow through."

Tauzin wasn't available for comment, a PhRMA spokeswoman says. A spokesman for Boehner says the congressman hasn't heard back from Tauzin. He declines to comment further.