WASHINGTON -- Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch angrily defended the inclusion of a controversial provision in the fiscal cliff deal that will pay major dividends to a single biopharmaceutical company, Amgen. The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, Hatch teamed with panel chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to include a host of tax extenders, credits and other provisions that added billions to the price tag of the bipartisan bargain.
The Amgen provision first surfaced in The New York Times, which noted that the bill blocks Medicare from regulating the price of Amgen's dialysis drug for two more years at a cost to the program of roughly $500 million. Democrats in the House have pledged to repeal it and former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) launched a petition to have it stripped. Hatch, however, said he resents the response.
"I personally resent the way some people have blown that out of proportion because there are good, solid reasons that were backed up by government as to why that needed to go over for another two years," he told HuffPost, referencing a 2011 Government Accountability Office report that found access to such dialysis drugs could be hampered for rural patients if the change came too quickly. "You have both senators on the Finance committee, both leaders, who believe that you needed to put it over for two years or rural Americans are going to be very badly hurt."
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