Bush & CO. = PHARMA, Inc.

It's no great surprise that the Bush administration is planning to buck the Democrats on their every proposal -- even one so innocuous as allowing the government to negotiate drug prices for the Medicare prescription drug program.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 — The Bush administration said on Sunday that it would strenuously oppose one of the Democrats’ top priorities for the new Congress: legislation authorizing the government to negotiate with drug companies to secure lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries.

In an interview, Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, said he saw no prospect of compromise on the issue.

“In politics,” Mr. Leavitt said, “most specific issues like this are a disguise for a larger difference. Government negotiation of drug prices does not work unless you have a program completely run by the government. Democrats say they want the government to negotiate prices. What they really want is government-run health care.”

No, the one does not necessarily imply the other. However, yes, we do want a single payer health care system, and the most logical single payer -- indeed, the only single payer that will work -- is the government. That, of course, is a very far cry from "government-run health care."

What the Bushies really care about is the profitability of the pharmaceutical industry. PHARMA, Inc. = Bush & Co.