[Editorial] The Government is to Blame

It is shocking news that multilateral pharmaceutical companies and the US government have exercised undue pressure on the Korean government in order to prevent the government to lower drug prices. Of course it is understandable to lobby in a bid to accomplish one`s goal when stakes are high. But if the news report is true that the multilateral drug companies and the US government pressed and even threatened the Korean government, it is a serious violation of the nation`s sovereignty.

What infuriates the public more, however, is the Korean government that let them pull the string. Reduction in drug prices is not something to be bargained over. It is something that can lead to an improved finance of the health insurance.

But the government did not lower drug prices under the pressure of drug companies and made the public bear the burden. For whom on earth the government exists?

An aide to Lee Tae-bok, former Health and Welfare minister testified that the Health and Welfare Ministry tried to report the President Kim about the ministry`s measures to reduce the deficit of the health insurance last May, but the presidential secretariat wouldn`t let it do. His revelation takes on significant meaning. For at the heart of the measures was the reduction in drug prices. Earlier, former Health and Welfare minister Lee also tried to explain the need to lower drug prices to the President last March but to no avail because of restraint from presidential secretaries.

The allegation that the presidential office of Chungwadae was skeptical about the ministry`s price reduction policy is quite persuasive. The US mobilized every related agencies to wield undue pressure to the Korean government starting from May, last year. And the US pressure peaked in last May with regards to the ministry`s plan to push ahead with the reference drug pricing system.

Commenting on the allegation, Chungwadae said that it only intended to be prudent. But given that the deficit in the health insurance system was the most pressing issue, Chungwadae`s argument that it failed to report to the President because of the President`s busy schedule is nothing more than a lame excuse.

The government should bring to light what pressure multilateral drug companies and the US government exercised and why it fired Lee after only six months in his office. The government should do it now before it is too late. On top of it, the government should promote again policies to lower drug prices to reasonable level by introducing the reference pricing system and conducting reevaluation of drug prices. No concession should be made over an issue related to the public health.