By any measure, $80 billion is a gargantuan sum.
It is twice the net worth of Bill Gates, the world's richest man. It would pay for almost three decades worth of "Cash for Clunkers" programs.
This $80 billion is the amount the pharmaceutical industry has told the Obama administration and Senate leaders it will chip in over 10 years to help pay for health-care reform.
The White House asked the industry to cough up the cash. Big Pharma agreed, allotting $30 billion to $35 billion of the figure to help Medicare participants pay for drugs when they reach the so-called doughnut hole gap in coverage.
Medicare covers up to $2,700 in yearly drug costs. After that, recipients must pay any additional amount until total costs hit $6,154 and coverage resumes. While in the "doughnut hole," participants' out-of-pocket expenses might be as high as $3,400.
Under the agreement reached with the White House, pharmaceutical companies would reduce prices of brand-name drugs 50 percent to those in the "doughnut hole."
It is not clear yet where the rest of the $80 billion would go.
Besides the money, the administration won the drug industry's support for reform.
Those new "Harry and Louise" commercials, in which the couple that doomed the Clinton plan now back Obama's health-care proposals? Paid for by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the trade group that negotiated the $80 billion deal.
In the world of medical care, where most numbers are Carl Sagan-size, $80 billion was a small price to pay for what drug companies hope to get in return.
The White House and Max Baucus, head of the Senate Finance Committee, which is overseeing health-care legislation, promised they would fight efforts in the U.S. House of Representatives to win even lower prices for drugs paid for by Medicare. The pharmaceutical industry also won a pledge that the administration would oppose importation of cheaper drugs from Canada.
But U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, a leader in the House debate, said he thought that deal let drug companies off too easily. He argues that the industry received a windfall when Medicare took over drug payments for several million consumers known as dual eligibles, who had been getting them through Medicaid, the government program for the poor.
