in the news experts – including noninterference skeptics – are now skeptical of government...

In The NewsExperts – Including Noninterference Skeptics –

Are Now Skeptical of Government “Negotiating”

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Robert D. Reischauer President, Urban Institute

"Initially, he said, people were worried no private plans would participate. 'Then too many plans came forward,' Reischauer said. 'Then people said it's going to cost a fortune. And the price came in lower than anybody thought. Then people like me said they're low-balling the prices the first year and they'll jack up the rates down the line. And, lo and behold, the prices fell again. And the reaction was, "We've got to have the government negotiate lower prices." At some point you have to ask: What are we looking for here?'"

Lori Montgomery and Christopher Lee, "Success Of Drug Plan Challenges Democrats," The Washington Post, 11/26/06

Marilyn MoonHealth Program Director, The American

Institutes For Research

Lori Montgomery and Christopher Lee, "Success Of Drug Plan Challenges Democrats,“The Washington Post, 11/26/06

“‘This is going to be much more of a morass than people think.’ … Negotiating drug prices is ‘a feel-good kind of answer, but it's not one that is easy to imagine how you put into practice.’”

Dan MendelsonPresident, Avalere Health

Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, "On Drug Prices, Are Democrats In A Fix?"

Los Angeles Times, 11/26/06

"From a rhetorical perspective, Democrats may feel like they gain a lot

with this issue, but there are many substantive hurdles that the

government faces in trying to negotiate prices. … If you look historically at the government's experience in trying to

regulate prices, it's poor."

Tommy ThompsonFormer Health and Human Services Secretary

Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, "On Drug Prices, Are Democrats In A Fix?" Los Angeles Times, 11/26/06

"One prominent advocate of government-negotiated prices has had a change of heart. Tommy G. Thompson, President Bush's first Health and Human Services secretary, once expressed regret that he hadn't been given the power to bargain. But in a recent interview he said: 'This plan is working much better than ever anticipated. When you've got a law that is working well in the federal government, why change it?'"

Michael O. LeavittSecretary of Health and Human Services

Robert Pear, “Administration Opposes Democrats' Plan for Negotiating Medicare Drug

Prices,” The New York Times, November 13, 2006

“Government negotiation of drug prices does not work unless you have a program completely run by the

government. Democrats say they want the government to negotiate prices. What they really want is government-run health

care. … We are seeing large-scale negotiations with drug manufacturers, but they are conducted by private drug plans, not by the government. A robust

marketplace with a lot of competitors has driven down prices. It's the magic of the market. To assume that the government,

in our genius, could improve on this belies the reality of a complex task.”

Editorials AgainstNoninterference Repeal




USA TodayNovember 13, 2006

Editorial“Our View On Medicare Part D: Put Brakes On Drug Plan ‘Fix”

“Medicare recipients account for half of all drug prescriptions. With that kind of clout, government might try to dictate prices, not just negotiate them. This could leave people without drugs that manufacturers decide aren't sufficiently profitable under the plan. … The multitude of plans allows seniors to pick one that best meets their needs. Both the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office and Medicare actuaries have said they doubt the government could negotiate lower costs than the private sector. … More than 75% of seniors say they are satisfied with the benefit, five recent independent surveys found. … The public would be best served if the new Congress conducts in-depth oversight to gather the facts, rather than rushing through legislation within 100 hours to fix something that isn't necessarily broken.”

Charleston Daily Mail (West Virginia)

November 28, 2006

Our Views;

Drug coverage works for seniors; The Republican Medicare D plan needs little Democratic tweaking

“Republican Thomas Scully, an architect of the plan, told the Post: ‘Black voters, poor voters -- people who generally vote Democratic -- they got the biggest benefit in 40 years and nobody told them that.’ Some Democrats now want to have the government ‘negotiate’ prices for drugs covered by Medicare Plan D…. Given the success of this new program, Democrats might want to slow down their desire to rewrite every law passed in the last four years that Republicans have held both houses in Congress…. This plan may need some tweaking, but certainly not an overhaul.”

The Washington PostNovember 2, 2006 Page A16

“The Democrats rightly point out that the federal health program for veterans uses its purchasing power to secure drugs at prices lower than the average obtained by the private insurers that administer the Medicare benefit. But this is not a fair comparison. The veterans program keeps prices down partly by maintaining a sparse network of pharmacies and delivering three-quarters of its prescriptions by mail, a policy that might not appeal to retirees who want a local pharmacist. … Its plan excludes many new medicines. More than a third of retired veterans have signed up for Medicare drug coverage, suggesting that while the veterans program is cheaper, its restricted pharmacy network and formulary render it less attractive.”

Editorial

“An Election on Drugs; The Democrats oversell

a Medicare solution”

The Dallas Morning News

November 21, 2006

Editorial“Drugstore Cowboys: Dems' plan to negotiate prices is misguided”

“Giving the feds the power to negotiate drug prices for seniors would effectively cede control of the pharmaceutical industry to Washington. While the government negotiates drug prices for Medicaid patients and veterans, the enormous Medicare portfolio of 39 million beneficiaries would give the bureaucracy a veto over drug companies. That's more power than a domestic agency like the Department of Health and Human Services should possess, and President Bush is right to oppose it. … When congressional Democrats press for this change next year, remember they're pushing for much more than lower prices. They're seeking to move the line where government should stop and the marketplace should start.”

Republican AmericanWaterbury, CTNovember 25, 2006

Editorial

A prescription for trouble

“Democrats who will assume control of Congress in January have come up with a way to make matters worse. They're determined to require the government to negotiate with prescription- drug companies, a practice that is not allowed under current Medicare rules. … Advocates of government intervention point out other nations have driven prices down through negotiation and even price controls. But there are several downsides. If a pharmaceutical company sees its profit margin shrink in one sector, it will have to make up revenue or skimp in another. That could mean higher drug co-pays for working people or diminished funding for research and development of promising new drugs. Europe once had a flourishing pharmaceutical industry; today, with price controls the norm, it is somnolent. The same will occur in the United States if the Democrats have their way.”

The Wall Street JournalDecember 6, 2006

EditorialLittle Big Pharma

“The drug industry -- or Big Pharma, in the partisan argot -- has been under siege. And the storyline peddled by critics is that little innovation comes from drug companies anyway ... [s]o imposing such incentive-killing policies as Medicare price controls wouldn't really harm drug development. This is a politicized fantasy. Only the private sector has the knowledge and resources for efficiently isolating useful chemical compounds, and only one in 25 candidate drugs identified by the industry ever makes it to market…. A new study by economist Benjamin Zycher (published by the Manhattan Institute) estimates that any apparent savings from having Medicare ‘negotiate’ drug prices would be more than wiped out by the cost in ‘life-years’ lost from a decreasing number of new, beneficial drugs.”

in the news experts – including noninterference skeptics – are now skeptical of government...

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