Let Medicare Negotiate
Recently the Democrats came out of nowhere and introduced a bill to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. The Democrats! Hooray! Wait, what? How has this administration not done this already? Why have the Republicans not done this? Per the article, “It defies logic that the federal government is not using its enormous purchasing power to get a better deal for seniors on prescription drugs,” Welch (D-Vt.) said. I agree and I am not a Republican or Democrat. I am a free market guy. And this sure sounds like a free market idea.
Am I missing something here?
They haven’t done it because they are in big Pharma’s pocket. Wish I could afford to buy a Congress critter myself.
“Am I missing something here?”
Well… just the fact that every drug lobbyist on the planet is going to get this thing killed fast.
When Medicare Part D came through, this inability to negotiate prices followed. Yet, no one seemed to notice or care.
Yes!! This is badly needed!!! But it won’t happen.
Yes Dr Doug you are missing something. In a free market buyers and sellers function independently in the private economy.
Medicare functions as something called a quasi monopsony in economic parlance. They are a group purchasing agent for virtually all seniors , a cohort which just happens to be the largest consumer of meds.
A true free market perspective would advocate elimination of all 3rd party payment including public sector.
Alas that is but a thought experiment. The reality is that there has not been a free market in the healthcare sector since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Only Pharma lobbying has preserved pricing power which has its advantages in terms of funding R&D.
But this is a classic Trump wedge issue because we are subsidizing global socialized medicine.