MOSCOW, June 10 (Sputnik) — The United States' Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, negotiated with 11 other countries, undermines the US health care system, the consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen said Wednesday.
Peter Maybarduk, Public Citizen's Global Access to Medicines Program director, says US President Barack Obama's secretive negotiation process, "acting at the behest of pharmaceutical companies, has subjected Medicare to a series of procedural rules."
"That would limit Congress' ability to enact policy reforms that would reduce prescription drug costs for Americans — and might even open to challenge aspects of our health care system today," Maybarduk writes.
Preliminary analysis conducted by Wikileaks has revealed that the negotiating countries, including New Zealand, Australia, Japan and other Latin American and Southeast Asian countries, would suffer similar consequences as the US health care system.
The TPP, Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiating processes are shrouded in controversy because of the trade deals' secretive nature. Uncertain implications for rights, employment relations and the environment have also drawn ire from labor unions and other watchdogs.
Additional concerns have arisen after the US Senate passed a fast-track trade bill late last month, granting the president authority to negotiate the TPP, TISA and TTIP, with Congress given only an up or down vote without the ability to amend the agreements.
