The NYT reported that the White House struck a deal with PhRMA where the government would give up its power to negotiate for lower drug prices in exchange for PhRMA’s support for a “healthcare reform” bill.

Then PhRMA authorized its lobbyists to launch a $150 million ad campain in support of “healtcare reform” while Obama’s campaign promises to break PhRMA’s control of drug prices have been erased from the health care page at mybarackobama.com.

William Greider called the deal an outrageous concession and Robert Reich argued that such deals threaten democracy.

Now, in the face of such criticism, anonymous White House officials are denying that a such a deal was made, and as everybody knows there is nothing more trustworthy than an anonymous White House official, so there is probably nothing to see here. Move along.

UPDATE 08/13/09: No, wait, it turns out that they are liars after all. I’m so surprised.