The Biden administration on Thursday asserted its authority to seize the patents of certain costly medications in a new push to slash high drug prices and promote more pharmaceutical competition.
The administration unveiled a framework outlining the factors federal agencies should consider in deciding whether to use a controversial policy, known as march-in rights, to break the patents of drugs that were developed with federal funds but are not widely accessible to the public. For the first time, officials can now factor in a medication’s price — a change that could have big implications for drugmakers depending on how the government uses the powers.
“When drug companies won’t sell taxpayer-funded drugs at reasonable prices, we will be prepared to allow other companies to provide those drugs for less,” White House National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard said during a call with reporters Wednesday.
– to make it less offensive to the Republicans and a handful of “moderate” Democrats so it stood a chance of actually becoming law. It didn’t even pass in its original form due to a Republican led filibuster: the Bill’s backers didn’t have the votes to overcome it, so they had to make concessions. Unfortunately that’s how Congress works.
The idea Democrats could have passed a bill for universal healthcare is absurd. Any serious attempt to pass it would have been shut down. The parties aren’t homogeneous entities: they’re made up of individuals with their own agendas.
I think you may be white washing what occurred at the time. Obama made concessions to appeal to Republicans but they weren’t needed to pass the bill and none of them even voted for it in the end (apart from 1 House Republican). Democrats had a super majority at the time with 60 senate seats.
https://ballotpedia.org/Obamacare_overview