I'M OUTRAGED at the White House's apparent coziness with Big Pharma. Our medical industry is driven by drug profits and over the last two decades, the pharmaceutical industry has been driving health care costs to unsustainable levels.

Some chronically ill patients and many of the elderly say they can't afford their medication if they don't carry gold-plated insurance to pay for it. So I'm not impressed that Big Pharma will spend $150 million on TV ads, or its pledge to cut drug costs by $80 billion, without first learning the specifics of the deal that the industry cut with the White House, since we can blame the drug companies' hefty prices as one of several causes of unaffordable health care for millions.

The greed of the insurance companies, increasingly expensive medical tests, overburdened emergency rooms and hospital closures are also to blame. Add in the rest of corporate America, which has slowly and quietly been shifting more of the burden of health-insurance premiums back to employees. I sense that the deals brokered by Big Pharma will increase profits for drug companies, but won't help Americans get any healthier.

The most troubling part is that, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, "the U.S. spends twice as much money on health care than any other nation, but the state of our health just doesn't measure up."

She joined Sen. Arlen Specter in Philadelphia a few Sundays ago at a town meeting called "Health Insurance Reform: What's in it for you?" Before facing an angry mob of protesters who taunted her as she took the stage at the Constitution Center, Sebelius met with a small group of journalists.

She said that goals for health-care reform included stabilizing the cost of marketplace insurance and preventing employers from off-loading workers onto potential public plans, rather than paying for their benefit packages. She also said that educating consumers about preventable maladies like childhood obesity are also on the president's front burner.

The health-care overhaul must also include more preventive measures like teaching people to overcome their sedentary lifestyles and eat healthier.

Although drugs are necessary to treat some illnesses, others respond to lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise. But every time we look at TV, the pharmaceutical industry is pushing more pills at us when we really should be trying to learn the causes of our headaches, anxiety or low energy.

I also would like to know the reasons behind the disparities in pharmaceutical costs. With no government price oversight on medication, why is CVS able to charge 10 times more for my blood-pressure medication than Wal-Mart?

Imagine what it must be like for an AIDS patient whose medicine costs upward of $5,000 a month? Or a cancer patient whose chemotherapy and the medicine to cover side effects can cost $5,000 a pop?

U.S. health care is complicated, but it's also unfortunately been driven by corporate greed, and not necessarily the mission of making Americans healthier.

Millions desperately need coverage, but execs from the insurance and drug industries have benefited the most economically down through the years. At the other end of the business, some doctors complain about their exorbitant malpractice premiums, while HMOs pay them insulting fees for their services.

Sebelius says that besides making health insurance affordable for all Americans, the entire system must approach health from the perspective of prevention rather than relying solely on expensive drugs and other treatments, instead of educating Americans on lifestyles that include better eating and exercise that will drastically cut down on medical conditions like obesity, diabetes and asthma.

Sebelius says the White House plan will also make sure that insurance companies can't deny coverage because of the onset of an illness or a pre-existing condition. Imagine what it must be like to pay exorbitant monthly premiums and have your insurer refuse a claim when you need it most.

IF WE COULD take the politics out of health-care reform for just a moment, what would it look like?

Washington lawmakers are overwhelmed with exactly how to fix America's broken health-care system. The primary reason is they are trying to appease too many masters with deals brokered on the backs of Americans at prices that we can't afford.

Fatimah Ali is a journalist, media consultant and an associate member of the Daily News editorial board.