Current Medicare law includes a gift to drug companies that specifically prohibits the government from directly negotiating on drug prices--a gift that is estimated to cost Medicare $200B over the next 10 years and additionally drive up the cost of drugs to Seniors. The U.S. Veteran's Administration and virtually every other country in the world already do benefit from negotiated drug prices. Get rid of this prohibition and allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
Why is this important?
Virtually every other country in the world saves megabucks for public healthcare by allowing the government to negotiate drug prices. The U.S. does the same thing with Veterans Administration hospitals. But we are prohibited from doing the same thing for Medicare by an estimated $200B "gift" to the drug companies that costs both Seniors and Medicare.
