Drug companies have begun notifying children’s hospitals around the country that they no longer qualify for large discounts on drugs used to treat rare medical conditions. When Congress revised the drug discount program, as part of the new health care law, it blocked these hospitals from continuing to receive price cuts on orphan drugs intended for treatment of diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States.
Obviously, I have no way of knowing if the drug companies were behind the change, but for some reason or other, Congress agreed to include it in the "reform" bill. Altogether, the loss of the discounts amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars, which will now go to the drug companies, (as if they needed additional profits).
According to hospital administrators, unless this is soon corrected, it may jeopardize the ability of some hospitals to care for some of the sickest children, with the most complex health care needs.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/healt ... ref=health
Tex
