http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2006/12/06/pharma-chairman%e2%80%99s-parting-salvo-on-esrd/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pharma-chairman%25e2%2580%2599s-parting-salvo-on-esrd The Policy Journal of the Health Sphere Thu, 24 May 2012 07:58:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2006/12/06/pharma-chairman%e2%80%99s-parting-salvo-on-esrd/comment-page-1/#comment-278 mgoozner Tue, 12 Dec 2006 01:59:36 +0000 http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2006/12/06/pharma-chairman%e2%80%99s-parting-salvo-on-esrd/#comment-278 Fair enough. I don't attend enough Ways and Means Committee meetings. That may change in the new year. Fair enough. I don’t attend enough Ways and Means Committee meetings. That may change in the new year.

]]> http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2006/12/06/pharma-chairman%e2%80%99s-parting-salvo-on-esrd/comment-page-1/#comment-277 Rob Cunningham Mon, 11 Dec 2006 15:44:31 +0000 http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2006/12/06/pharma-chairman%e2%80%99s-parting-salvo-on-esrd/#comment-277 Absolutely a fair comment. John Reichard also characterized Thomas’s farewell performance as vituperative in CQ HealthBeat. John and I covered Thomas together for years at Medicine & Health, when he was chair of the W & M health subcommittee, and his outbursts have been a regular source of interest for years in the health press. At the hearing in question, though, I found it difficult to take his attitude too seriously. Is Mr. Thomas outraged that CMS has been led astray by Amgen, as Dennis Cotter has written? But is he not one of the architects of a Medicare drug benefit that gave the pharmaceutical industry what it wanted in the pricing department? And if CMS can’t meet its deadlines on ESRD reform, might it not have something to do with the enormous burden that implementation of the selfsame Part D, in all its labyrinthine complexity, has placed on the agency? Is the chairman really outraged? Perhaps. But in any case, I thought he went out of his way to be nice to Leslie Norwalk, whatever his reasons; and that Norwalk, Stark, and Rangel made a point of being nice to him. For once, it didn’t seem like Thomas’s famous truculence was the story, and that was a welcome change of pace. It was an ironic little twist at the end of a long, grim saga, and worth a little tongue-in-cheek chuckle. Absolutely a fair comment. John Reichard also characterized Thomas’s farewell performance as vituperative in CQ HealthBeat. John and I covered Thomas together for years at Medicine & Health, when he was chair of the W & M health subcommittee, and his outbursts have been a regular source of interest for years in the health press. At the hearing in question, though, I found it difficult to take his attitude too seriously. Is Mr. Thomas outraged that CMS has been led astray by Amgen, as Dennis Cotter has written? But is he not one of the architects of a Medicare drug benefit that gave the pharmaceutical industry what it wanted in the pricing department? And if CMS can’t meet its deadlines on ESRD reform, might it not have something to do with the enormous burden that implementation of the selfsame Part D, in all its labyrinthine complexity, has placed on the agency? Is the chairman really outraged?
Perhaps. But in any case, I thought he went out of his way to be nice to Leslie Norwalk, whatever his reasons; and that Norwalk, Stark, and Rangel made a point of being nice to him. For once, it didn’t seem like Thomas’s famous truculence was the story, and that was a welcome change of pace. It was an ironic little twist at the end of a long, grim saga, and worth a little tongue-in-cheek chuckle.

]]> http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2006/12/06/pharma-chairman%e2%80%99s-parting-salvo-on-esrd/comment-page-1/#comment-251 mgoozner Sat, 09 Dec 2006 06:32:35 +0000 http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2006/12/06/pharma-chairman%e2%80%99s-parting-salvo-on-esrd/#comment-251 Did you attend the same hearing I did? Bill Thomas vowed to use his time in "retirement" pro bono to lobby his former colleagues in Congress to change Medicare reimbursement policy for EPO if Norwalk and CMS didn't. He was visibly shaking with anger as he read her the riot act on the agency's failure to act. If you want to read my take on that hearing, go to www.gooznews.com. Did you attend the same hearing I did? Bill Thomas vowed to use his time in “retirement” pro bono to lobby his former colleagues in Congress to change Medicare reimbursement policy for EPO if Norwalk and CMS didn’t. He was visibly shaking with anger as he read her the riot act on the agency’s failure to act. If you want to read my take on that hearing, go to http://www.gooznews.com.

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