June 10, 2015
No one expects much consistency from Washington politicians or the Washington Post, but the latest episode in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) should be over the top even for this crew. Wikileaks published the text of a leaked health care annex. The annex spells out a set of rules that public health care programs must follow in deciding which drugs and procedures to cover. This will be subject to review and in principle can be contested through the investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) tribunals.
This means that if Pfizer comes up with a drug, for which it charges $150,000 per treatment, that is no more effective than the generic that costs $100 per treatment, it can contest the decision of Medicare or another country’s health service not to pay for it. And, if it loses in the review process, it can take the complaint to an ISDS panel where it will get to appoint one of the three members.
Needless to say, this process is likely to raise the costs of Medicare and other public health systems considerably. That will undoubtedly lead to more calls for austerity from folks like the WaPo and other supporters of TPP, since we all know we can’t afford the exploding cost of Medicare.
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