$1,700.0 billion for health reform

The Lewin Group, a US consulting and policy analysis firm, has estimated at between $1,500.0 billion and 1,700.0 billion the cost of changing  the US health care system according to President Barack Obama's  election promises. However, this is likely to be an underestimate,  given that spending bills going through Congress have attracted  sizeable additional "earmarks," or supplementary commitments that are  often unrelated to the issue being voting on. Pres Obama is reported to  be considering a legislative device, the budget reconciliation process,  to prevent opposition Republicans from amending or blocking the reform  program.

So far, Pres Obama has committed to finding the first $634.0 billion  installment, which supporters hope will lead to universal health care  insurance coverage. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of  America (PhRMA) supports the President's initiative, although this  may come at the cost of several measures that are detrimental to its  members: patent reform; price controls imposed on Medicare Part D  prescription drug purchases; the legalization of parallel trade; and a  follow-on biotechnology review pathway that is unfavorable to  brand-name companies (see page 13).