Let Medicare negotiate with drug companies

Allowing Medicare to negotiate with the drug companies is a no-brainer if you are serious about reducing deficits. My husband has a $9 monthly co-pay per drug through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Generic drugs have not compromised his health. Also, most insurance carriers insist their subscribers use generics when available. So why not Medicare?

Newsweek (Dec. 9, 2010): “The Medicare D price tag continues to escalate because the bill explicitly bars the government from using its market power to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers or establishing a formulary with approved medications … the bill G.W. Bush signed was financed entirely through deficit spending. Former comptroller general David M. Walker has called it ‘probably the most fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation since the 1960s.' ”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was a major player in this legislation. ProPublica (Dec. 20, 2009): “The 2003 law that created the Medicare prescription drug plan was a windfall for the drug industry. … Sen. Grassley was one of the legislators involved in the closed-door Part D negotiations and was chair of the Senate Finance Committee when Part D passed.”

How can Sen. Grassley sleep at night? He helped design and pass this legislation at the expense of the elderly and American taxpayers. Guess who bankrolled his re-elections? Demand that the government be allowed to negotiate Medicare's drug prices now!

Linda Sprengeler

Cedar Rapids