Kindler column backs Obama on reform

You can't call Pfizer chief Jeff Kindler (photo) a lone ranger. Showing his team-player stripes, Kindler paired up with big-time union official Andy Stern to write a column in support of healthcare reform for the Huffington Post. (Yes, that Huffington Post.)

But it's not just the odd-bedfellows nature of a major corporate CEO and a labor chief co-authoring an article that makes Kindler look like a poster child for cooperation. He's also very overtly throwing his lot in with President Obama. The president made his commitment to reform very clear in last night's speech to Congress. And in this column, Kindler and Stern make clear that they "stand behind his vision."

"We are proud to stand together with President Obama as he reinforces the urgency of health care reform," they write. "Congress must take swift action to enact comprehensive healthcare reform today."

Why? The economy depends on it, they say. Plus, we know that drugmakers would benefit from more comprehensive insurance coverage, a keystone of the Obama proposal. But government price negotiation for drugs? The column doesn't mention that. Maybe Kindler hopes that if he jumps on the bandwagon early, he can have a say-so when the price issue rolls around.

- read the Post column

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