(HOST) As Congress convenes the new session, commentator Olin Robison is thinking about some of the changes that may be ahead for the Pharmaceutical industry.
(ROBISON) Everyone knows what Big Pharma is – namely the big drug companies. The Slippery Slope, on the other hand, is a bit less clear. But I believe that Big Pharma is on the verge of sliding down that slope, and I will try to say why.
But first, a little background. During Thanksgiving week the heads of the nation’s largest drug companies met in Washington, DC, to try to find ways – or at least A way – to keep the new Democratic Congress from changing the recently passed Medicare drug supplement plan.
They know they’re in trouble, and, as you would expect such highly paid people to do, they want to keep things the way they are.
But we are approaching a tipping point, and these folks know it. They are, in the minds of most of the American public, right up there with the big oil companies in their ability to enrich themselves. The slippery slope is the delusion that they can keep things the way they are more or less indefinitely.
A phenomenon of which they seem unaware is that when the public at large has finally had enough there sometimes follows either nationalization or regulation.
For instance, many years ago roads in America were private property. A road was a “turnpike,” and people who used a particular road were required to pay a toll. But there came a time when the public had had enough and roads became public property.
When the same thing happened in the world of utilities, some, like water systems, became public property, and citizens henceforth paid their municipalities for water. Other utilities were technically left in private hands but became highly regulated – perhaps electricity is the best example.
There was a time a few generations back when elementary and secondary education was a for-profit, private business. And then the public reached a point where it was decided that every child should be entitled to basic education at taxpayer’s expense. It was then that local school boards were born.
This list could go on.
I am not – repeat NOT – predicting that the drug industry in America will be nationalized. But I am predicting that big changes are now on the horizon. And the CEO’s of the big drug companies meeting in Washington can delay this for a time, but they cannot prevent it, long-term.
Most listeners will of course recall the disastrous efforts mounted early in Bill Clinton’s first term as President – efforts that were aimed at creating a dramatically changed health care system including, of course, the drug industry. In retrospect two things seem clear: First, it was not well handled by the White House, and second, it was too soon.
Part of that effort and its timing was rooted in a political campaign in Pennsylvania in November of 1991. It pitted Harris Wofford, a relatively unknown Democrat, against the former Pennsylvania Governor, Dick Thornburg, a Republican. Harris started off so far behind in the polls that he was thought to have no chance at all.
Yet he won with a decisive margin. A significant part of his campaign was a slogan that went something like this: “If a criminal has a constitutional right to a lawyer, a sick person ought to have a right to a Doctor.” It worked.
Big changes are coming, and Big Pharma is probably nearing the end of an incredibly profitable run. All the other side needs now is an articulate and attractive champion. That person can come from either party and will now probably emerge sooner rather than later.
Olin Robison is past president of both the Salzburg Seminar and Middlebury College. He now lives in Shelburne.