HEALTHCARE

Emails: WH Talked With Big Pharma

Obama administration cut deal with drug companies.

A betrayal of campaign promises, or a necessary political evil? A cache of emails released by House Republicans suggest that President Obama’s administration negotiated certain aspects of the health-care overhaul—a move that some say contradicts the president’s promise to keep the influence of large pharmaceutical companies out of legislation. “Throughout his campaign, President Obama was clear that he would bring every stakeholder to the table in order to pass health reform, even longtime opponents like the pharmaceutical industry,” White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer told reports on Friday. In emails released Friday, seemed to show a deal reached by White House staff and drug companies in 2009 on reimplementation of lower-price medications.