Why'd They Do That???
Usually I try to make my point with a little humor, but for some reason I can't find any humor in this one.
When Medicare Prescription coverage was first introduced, one of the recognized drawbacks was a provision in the bill that prohibits Medicare from negotiating with the drug companies for lower prices. For the pharmaceuticals, this was a good thing - for the drug plan subscribers, not so good.
In the first three months of Plan D, (January through March 2006), brand-name drug prices increased by an average of 3.9%. That is the highest first-quarter increase in the last six years and almost four times the rate of inflation.
All of Medicare’s leverage, considerable with the number of people signing up for Plan D, was just given away by the legislators. The leverage the Medicaid program had was also lost because all those people were transferred to Plan D. Now why would our legislators, charged with looking after our best interests, do something like that?
Do you suppose it could have anything to do with the drug industry lobbyists? Could there be a connection between that decision and pharmaceutical money that flows into political coffers?