WP: Prohibition on Medicare Negotiation of Drug Prices Costs Billions

[JPZenger]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62515-2004Apr8.html

One of the features of the Republican's Medicare Drug Bill was a prohibition on Medicare negotiating the price of prescription drugs. I guess the Republicans really don't care about trying to reduce the huge budget deficit.

Excerpts:

"Medicare and its beneficiaries would save $1.6 billion a year if 24 drugs were reimbursed at amounts available to the VA," wrote the Inspector General team...

Because the federal government and beneficiaries share Medicare costs, taxpayers and senior citizens were hit by the higher prices. By the time two congressional panels decided to investigate in 2001, the price gap was nearly $2 billion -- $380 million of that in higher co-payments by elderly patients...

...Rather than adopt the VA model, the new law explicitly prohibits the government from negotiating with drugmakers.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) calls the prohibition "a living, breathing testimonial to the political influence of the pharmaceutical companies" by preventing "Medicare from doing exactly what the VA has been doing: saving hundreds of millions of dollars."

[tom_paine]

1. Of course it does. That's what it was designed to do.

This is strictly a "fraud and theft" bill like much of the Bushevik Imperial Fiats and Intiatives.

It has no other purpose than to transfer more of the Public Commons into Imperial Family, Operatives, and Stooges' pockets.

Well, not try true, it's additional purpose is to sucker and fool the Imperial Subjects of Amerika into accepting their slavery easily.

And they are succeeding!

[indepat]

2. Bringing malfeasance to a higher art form