How Medicare’s Prescription Drug ‘Negotiation’ Provisions Will Harm PatientsMary Vought
Jul 09, 2023
If anyone had any doubt that the Biden administration and the Left are hellbent on a government takeover of health care, they need only read the new lawsuits against the Medicare prescription drug “negotiation” provisions Democrats in Congress rammed through last year. Those suits lay out in exquisite detail the ways in which progressives want to micro-manage the health care system.
In recent weeks, several drug manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have filed suits in federal court seeking to halt the drug “negotiation” provisions. The suits explain how the federal government is unconstitutionally attempting to dictate prices via what amount to socialistic price controls.
The lawsuits explain how the government dictates every step of the entire “negotiation” process. The law specifies that manufacturers must “agree” to enter into a process that will culminate in a “maximum fair price” that is between 25-60 percent below the current market price. The entire “negotiation” will take place in secret, with manufacturers obligated to hand over to federal authorities any documents Washington bureaucrats request.
If manufacturers fail to participate in this “negotiation”—which guarantees a reduction of at least 25-60 percent of their revenue—or fail to “agree” to these unilateral price cuts, the companies will face ruinous levels of taxation. Specifically, they will face taxes of up to 1,900 percent—19 times the underlying drug’s price.
This process amounts to a “negotiation” in the same way The Godfather makes offers to his “business partners” that they can’t refuse. Indeed, congressional scorekeepers concluded that the tax penalties would generate no revenue—they would place such an onerous burden on companies that they will have no choice but to accept the government’s demands.
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Source:
https://townhall.com/columnists/mary-vought/2023/07/09/how-medicares-prescription-drug-negotiation-provisions-will-harm-patients-n2625430
