Rejecting Democrats' Socialist Healthcare Schemes

Townhall.com ^ | October 11, 2019 | Ken Blaxkwell

[Kaslin]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently announced the details of her long-anticipated prescription drug reform plan. Not surprisingly, the plan is more of the same from the Democrat leadership – price controls, government meddling in the marketplace, and disincentives to invention and innovation. As the Democratic Party is engaged in a full march towards socialism with “Medicare for All,” free college, higher taxes, and government control over every industry - this drug plan fits right into that radical agenda.

Some have suggested that prescription drug reform is one area where President Trump (and the GOP) can find common ground with the Democrats. While there are common-sense reforms that can be pursued – the Pelosi plan (and similar proposals) are not it. Socialist policies are the Democrats’ specialty, not the Republicans.

Like other big-government solutions that promise lower prices, the Pelosi plan would limit access to life-saving drugs and stifle innovation. In the key component of her plan, Pelosi claims that her plan will lower drug costs for Medicaid recipients by allowing the government to “negotiate” the price. Don’t be fooled. There is no such thing as “negotiating” with the government. You are told your price.

Even worse, under the Pelosi plan, hefty fines await companies that refuse to join government officials at the “negotiating” table. As the Washington Post reports, “The bill would impose severe penalties on drug makers that do not reach an agreement with the government or refuse to participate in the negotiation. They would face a noncompliance fee equal to 75 percent of the gross sales of the drug negotiated from the previous years.”