Posted on 01/12/2007 4:50:42 PM PST by neverdem
When the issue of having the federal government negotiate drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies for the Medicare Part D program comes up later this week in Congress, it will be another example of an idea that seems to poll well and appears to enjoy a great deal of public support.
However an in depth look at public opinion shows that once the American people understand the possible implications of negotiating the cost of prescription drug prices, public opinion changes significantly and voters become very skeptical of the idea and the implications for public health.
Penn, Schoen, and Berland, a firm where I am a former and founding partner has recently completed a fairly comprehensive public opinion poll on the subject with the Tarrance Group, among 1,098 voters nationally who participated in the 2006 midterm November elections.
While voters offer initial support for the current proposal before Congress, which would require the federal government to negotiate Medicare prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, once voters are educated about the possible downsides of the proposal and the implications for public health, the public overwhelmingly opposes negotiations.
Here is the precise data that was collected by these two firms.
* Initially, 76% of voters support government negotiation and 24% oppose it. However, the way the question is posed, there is no reason to oppose the proposal. After all who is really against negotiations? When I initially reviewed the results, I was actually surprised that the number supporting the proposal wasn't even higher.
* However, after we told survey respondents about some of the potential negative implications of the negotiation proposal, opinion flipped - only 35% supported government negotiations, while 65% opposed it:
Question Text: Do you favor or oppose the current proposal in Congress requiring the government to negotiate Medicare prescription drug...
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Good grief. Go to www.walmart.com and look what you can buy for $4.
Bah. Walmart. $4. My diabetic wife gets her meds cheaper paying cash at walmart not using insurance then she does paying the medical benefits price at other places.
If she remembers her insurance she gets $2 prescriptions.
Perhaps, the Government should shop at Wal-Mart.
Walmart started it, but a lot of other retailers jumped on the bandwagon. I was at the doctor's last week, and they had a thick sheaf of documents showing where you could get $4 prescriptions. And they were willing to give you one of those instead of something more expensive if it was a reasonable alternative.
I suspect that a lot more drugs will show up on those lists. Another example where the free market trumps gov't intervention.
This proves the point that polls are dumb!
IMportant post. The Dems are about to make a bad situation TERRIBLE - horrible - resulting in detrimental affects for sick people in this nation re: price FIXING which is what this measure really proposes - always leads to shortages and higher prices eventually. TELL THE DEMS TO STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM PRESCRIPTION DRUGS "PRICES".
And the $4 prescriptions will also vanish. If pharmeceutical companies can't make money from leading edge drugs, they'll have to make it from the (now) routine ones.
It's no wonder that the US, with its so-far free market drug system, comes up with more innovation than any of the countries where drug prices are controlled. I just hope there's a country where drug research can relocate if we lose our collective minds and allow these Liberal ideas to take hold.
Dems rely on their constituents staying UNeducated. If they knew the truth about adult stem cell successes vs. ESC tumor growth, for example, the 'rats would lose a lot of voters. They can only win with the elite or the ignorant. Count on the MSM to help keep up the ignorance. Sad.
There will be other countries....China comes to mind? The communists will export expensive new drugs while making such drugs available for their own masses cheap. Cool business idea that will be supported by the Red Chinese and not by the "Land of the Free" US! Shame.......
I doubt it. China doesn't do research. They just copy things. It's the lack of research that will hurt us all.
I have no problem with pharmeceutical companies making a good profit for new prescription drugs however I would like to see shorter time frame before a "generic" cost saving alternative of expensive drugs becomes available for people with little or no insurance !!!
"...the federal government negotiate drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies..."
The government isn't going to "negotiate" jack squat. Its going to force price controls on private companies, ramming prices down their throats... and screw the investors who have money invested in the companies.
Jimmuh Cartah once tried that with gasoline.
Yep. I switched. Tired of paying co-pay at CVS for a $4 OR LESS drug at Walmart.
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