Obama blames high drug prices on companies too worried about profits

As President Obama winds down his tenure, he took a parting shot at the pharmaceutical industry.

Tucked within a lengthy essay he wrote to defend the Affordable Care Act, Obama chastised drug makers for their stance on pharmaceutical pricing and challenged the companies to renew their commitment to improving public health.

After lambasting Congress for refusing to work with him to more quickly to provide health coverage, he singled out drug makers as another example of obstinacy. “The pharmaceutical industry oppose(d) any change to drug pricing, no matter how justifiable and modest, because they believe it threatens their profits,” he wrote in an essay in the Journal of the American Medical Association that appeared Monday.

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