What Trump’s Plan to Negotiate With Pharma Should Tell Us

By JK WALL Donald Trump’s proposal to allow the federal Medicare program to negotiate prices with drug companies should be a wake-up call for the pharmaceutical industry. Trump is leading in the polls for the Republican nomination and is even drawing the support of Tea Party conservatives who, just a year or two ago, never would have supported a candidate endorsing such strong government intervention into a private-sector industry. Characteristically, Trump didn’t give a lot of detail about his plans. He claimed $300 billion in savings per year (about 10 times more than is realistic). But that doesn’t matter. If the leading GOP presidential candidate—a man who has proved masterful at reading the public mood and playing to it—has signed on to this idea, it proves that change has come. I know that many veterans of the pharmaceutical industry think they have seen this horror movie before and know how it ends. There have been several past public furors over the price of prescription drugs, and each one gradually faded without major disruption for drugmakers. But this time feels different. Trump’s proposal is just the latest indicator of the increasing bipartisan support for government action on drug pricing is one reason why things are different this time. One reason for that is this is the first big drug price controversy since Medicare Part D kicked into effect 10 years ago. That means this issue is not only hammering seniors—the most sympathetic and most-likely...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Economics Uncategorized Source Type: blogs