Report: Pharma cuts in Obama jobs bill would cost 230,000 jobs

Democratic proposals to cut the federal deficit at the expense of the pharmaceutical industry would threaten roughly 230,000 U.S. jobs, according to a report released Monday by a conservative think tank.

The American Action Forum, led by former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said the drug industry would likely shed thousands of jobs if Congress were to cut federal payments for prescription medicines.

Some congressional Democrats want Medicare to receive the same rebates that drug makers pay to Medicaid. It's a long-standing priority for many lawmakers, including Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), that was kept out of the healthcare reform law but has seen new focus as the supercommittee looks for at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, a similar proposal in President Obama's jobs bill would save the federal government about $135 billion over 10 years. But Holtz-Eakin's report says those cuts to drug makers' revenues would cause them to shed jobs.

He said Obama's proposal would endanger roughly 230,000 jobs in pharmaceutical companies and the other businesses they support.

Holtz-Eakin also said Medicaid shouldn't be a model for the successful Medicare Part D program.

"Medicaid is widely acknowledged to be one of our least successful entitlement programs," he said.