I thought Trump was just referring to Medicare/Medicaid negotiating prices for the drugs they use?
And if the GOPe is defending what happened with things like the Epi-pen, then shame on them for it.
In related matters, what is the actual stated Trump / GOP plan to replace ACA?
Does anybody know what the stated position is on a replacement other than mouthing more about “free market”?
To me, pharmaceutical companies are just below wife beaters in terms of criminality.
Marketing drugs for off label uses, then after making 200 billion, paying a 7 billion fine.
They Don’t have to and DIDN’T hand in Negative results from antidepressant studies, of which there were many. Why they aren’t obligated to turn over negative results too is beyond me. The FDA has to fix that.
When Oxycontin hit the market, pharma promised it would just be use for extreme cases like cancer patients.
We know how that ended.
Then they make money of suboxone, the drug that gets addicts off of the drug that pharma made in the first place.
Funny how the Big Pharma wound up being at worst exempt from and more likely buttressed by Obamacare. Oligopolies happily cut deals with big government to reduce risk and cement positions.
Getting drug prices down will help alot, as they're among the biggest drivers of year-to-year increases in costs.
Trump is going to diverge from Republicans and from Conservative orthodoxy at certain times.
Get used to it. It’s how he won the election.
Still beats the alternative.
Bid purchasing power is the only thing that makes sense to me. If you ever find the SOBs colluding on the bids beat them to death.
You would be amazed how fast and how much drug prices for the common stuff could come down. They have plenty of room to wiggle on price an still make money.
I’ve bought name brand, top of the line, new stuff overseas for a fraction of what it costs in the US. e.g. Voltaren gel is sold over the counter outside the US for less than $10 a tube. It is prescription here and more than $50 a tube.
This is a chance for Trump to really really shine. A reduction in prescription drug costs, negotiated rates for Medicare, Medicaid and possible forced competition between drug manufacturers by limiting patents, not extending existing patents, and mandatory licensing for another manufacturer.
Now for the lawyers (oh hear them howl)
Lawyer’s fee Caps and more stringent rules on class action lawsuits regarding prescription drugs, medical devices.
Payout caps and Lawyer’s fee caps on medical malpractice for all damages but actual damages.
I wouldn’t even mind the Federal government or State Mandates nationalize medical malpractice insurance.
I’ve read that we pay top dollar for drugs while the world pays far less for their product.
Drug companies do need to be looked at. How can Canada pay less? Drugs that have been out there for years only go up in price? I am not against making a profit, but I am against making a gross profit off of people who are ill.
The drug companies buy these represetatives.
Clean the swamp!
Because of patent protection created by government, there is no real free market to begin with.
Yeah, let the “free market” decide. Manufacturer charges what he wants and the government pays or you die. That’s how it works, right?
The first thing Dubya did when he got into office was give the drug companies a sweetheart deal with Medicare Part D.
I suspect Rumsfeld was behind that.
There are conservatives who believe that the drug companies are ripping people off and that if we allow government to negotiate prices, all of a sudden government will become benevolent and reliable, and we will all enjoy lower costs without any consequences. This is idiocy on parade.
When government talks about "negotiating" drug prices, it means instituting price controls. And what could possibly go wrong with price controls? Why is it that when it comes to this issue, conservatives can't wait to get into bed with the likes of Bernie Sanders?
Big Pharma should have to give meds to veterans for free then maybe, just maybe, those who need psych meds won’t be drugged into a stupor or become addicts and end up on the street or worse, dead.
Don’t know that I agree with Trump here. The average cost of developing drugs is large. The Tufts Center reports that $2.6 billion is the average cost to develop “a new prescription medicine that gains marketing approval,” And that’s anything from aspirin to cancer drugs with aspirin coming cheap and more inclusive drugs raising the price. Along with the years to get marketing approval. Cut back on the big brother prices, and it will curtail the expense of the purchase. Too many hoops as the drug companies are just as trapped in an overblown economy as we are.
red
Here’s something to consider in letting Medicare negotiate pricing. To negotiate successfully, you sometimes have to be willing to say no and walk away from the table. Which drugs should Medicare walk away from? You might set up a board to help determine costs and benefits of specific drugs, but then you would be accused of establishing death panels.