Tag: Medical Care

The Cost Of Your Meds

As an old fart that must take meds daily I am always interested in news that someone is making me spend less money to continue in good health.

Yesterday the news broke that Donny and his Magic Sharpie would go to work to bring down the cost of medication.

Prescription drugs taken by millions could soon become more affordable under a new executive order from President Donald Trump.

Trump plans to revive a policy from his first term that would require drug companies to charge Americans no more than what they charge in other countries.

According to officials familiar with the plan, Trump will sign an executive order next week instructing federal health agencies to adopt a ‘most favored nation’ pricing model for certain drugs covered by Medicare.

The model is designed to lower costs by ensuring the US pays no more than the lowest price charged elsewhere.

In many developed countries, single-payer systems allow governments to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies.

But in the US, a fragmented, privatized system gives drugmakers broad pricing power — with some medications costing up to 10 times more than abroad.

The order would mark a major shift in how pharmaceutical companies operate and could lead to lower drug prices for American consumers.

Industry leaders warn the move threatens profits and innovation, with one executive calling it the biggest ‘existential threat to the industry and U.S. biosciences innovation.’

Three people familiar with the matter told Politico the proposal is still being finalized and Trump has not approved any plans, but he did tease a ‘very big announcement’ that would be coming next week.

The president said: ‘We’re going to have a very, very big announcement to make — like as big as it gets.

‘It will be one of the most important announcements that have been made in many years about a certain subject.’

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14696157/Trumps-earth-shattering-new-executive-order-thats-set-slash-cost-drugs-millions-rely-on.html

For decades the drug industry has used the old dodge of R&D to justify the high costs of medication prescriptions….and it will be used again and the lobbyists will descend on Congress to stop and progress on making drugs cheaper….

There is a story about one drug….

David Armstrong has been writing about sky-high health care costs and the tactics of Big Pharma for years. His latest story in ProPublica has a far more personal angle: After being diagnosed with cancer—multiple myeloma—in 2023, he started taking a drug called Revlimid made by Celgene. The great thing is that it works. The major downside is that it cost $1,000 for each daily pill, out of reach for many patients. “When I started taking the drug, I’d look at the smooth, cylindrical capsule in my hand and consider the fact I was about to swallow something that costs about the same as a new iPhone,” writes Armstrong. Why so much? That’s what Armstrong wondered, too. Some key points of his investigation:

  • The first thing to know about Revlimid may be a surprise: It’s a derivative of thalidomide, the 1950s drug infamous for causing birth defects. But it’s been repurposed to fight multiple myeloma, and the story explains the mechanics, which involves blocking the growth of new blood vessels.
  • The second thing to know is that it costs only 25 cents to manufacture a single pill, which Armstrong discovered in a deposition marked “highly confidential.”
  • So how do you get from spending 25 cents to make a pill to charging $1,000? Think legal loopholes, FDA red tape, and plenty of doctor schmoozing to mute critics, all of which Armstrong details. In particular, the company’s legal battles have delayed the entry of generic competitors. “Those tactics, detailed in reams of court filings, allowed Celgene to treat Revlimid like a piggy bank, tapping it whenever it wanted,” writes Armstrong.” In fact, the company has hiked the price 26 times since its 2005 launch. The cost increases have only continued since Celgene was bought by Bristol Myers Squibb for $74 billion in 2019.

Will the Magic Sharpie actually make our drugs cheaper?

Damn good question!

I am not sure how this will work and if this will bring down my drug prices….and I am not alone….

…

Trump’s first-term rule—“Most Favored Nation”—was focused on lowering the cost of Medicare payments on certain drugs, but it barely made it out of the White House. The policy was blocked by federal courts shortly after it was announced in late 2020, and was then rescinded by President Joe Biden in 2021.

This time around, Trump’s order sets a 30-day deadline for drugmakers to negotiate lower prices. If there is no deal, then the U.S. will tie its drug prices to those paid by other countries. But as of now, nothing has changed.

Trump reiterated that the U.S. would no longer “subsidize” drug prices in other countries, telling reporters that the “game is up,” while alluding to potentially increasing auto tariffs if they don’t comply.

“If they want to get cute, they don’t have to sell cars into the United States anymore. They won’t get cute,” Trump said. “I’ll defend the drug companies from that standpoint.”

He was also characteristically vague on how much prices would change.

“Drug prices will come down by much more really if you think,” Trump said. “But between 59 and 80 and I guess even 90 percent.”

“We’re getting them down 60, 70, 80, 90 percent. But actually more than that if you think about it in a way, mathematically.”

https://newrepublic.com/post/195126/donald-trump-drug-prices-executive-order-nothing

I am not believing this for a minute, I want to but he has given us nothing in return for our patience….in other words he has lied to us before why should we believe him now?

I will watch and write.

If you depend on meds for your continued good health the surely you have something to say.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Trumpcare Is Becoming A Bit Clearer

Us old farts have been holding our breath for Donny and his Magic Sharpie have not been too busy with our healthcare problem….but that is about to change….

Large health insurers saw their stocks pop earlier this week, after administration officials announced they would boost benchmark payment rates for Medicare Advantage plans by 5.1% this year — the largest such increase in a decade, and more than double the one first proposed by the Biden administration. The bump means carriers should pocket $25 billion in extra revenue, according to CMS.

The Trump administration was widely expected to be more friendly to Medicare Advantage plans, especially after it appointed Dr. Oz, who had a long record of promoting the private plans on his show, to head CMS. The new payments were reportedly finalized without the celebrity doctor’s input — he was only confirmed by the Senate late last week. But they could both boost insurers profits and help them pay for additional benefits that would attract patients.

The bump could also exacerbate concerns about Medicare Advantage overpayments, which were already expected to cost the government well over $1 trillion during the next decade. According to the administration, the benchmark rate was driven higher by updated estimates of Medicare Fee-for-Service costs, which underpin the formula the government uses to compensate private insurers that sell advantage plans. But Jeffries’ analyst David Windley suggested some politics were still at play.

Then there is the news on prescription drugs….

Trump may have backed down on his staggering round of “reciprocal” tariffs, but the world’s drug makers still have plenty to be nervous about when it comes to trade. On Tuesday, the president said he would impose “major” new import taxes on pharmaceuticals “very shortly.”

“And when they hear that, they will leave China. They will leave other places because they have to sell — most of their product is sold here, and they’re going to be opening up their plants all over the place,” he told the crowd at a dinner for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

yahoo.com)

I am sure with an idiot in charge of HHS , RFK,Jr, and Medicare under the watchful eye of that quack Oz this saga is far from over.

I will be watching and writing whenever something new hits the presses.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

AI To The Rescue?

Another Sunday and another post…..with all my visits and stuff with my doctors I thought this article would be a good one and hopefully will make people think.

Most of my regulars know that I have no love for AI or anything to do with it….so when I read this article I felt it needed to be passed on…..

If you weren’t convinced we’re spiraling toward an actual cyberpunk future, a new bill seeking to let AI prescribe controlled drugs just might.

The proposed law was introduced in the House of Representatives by Arizona’s David Schweikert this month, where it was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce for review. Its purpose: to “amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to clarify that artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies can qualify as a practitioner eligible to prescribe drugs.”

In theory, it sounds good. Engaging with the American healthcare system often feels like hitting yourself with a slow-motion brick, so the prospect of a perfect AI-powered medical practitioner that could empathically advise on symptoms, promote a healthy lifestyle, and dispense crucial medication sounds like a promising alternative.

But in practice, today’s AI isn’t anywhere near where it’d need to be to provide any of that, nevermind prescribing potentially dangerous drugs, and it’s not clear that it’ll ever get there.

Schweikert’s bill doesn’t quite declare a free-for-all — it caveats that these robodoctors could only be deployed “if authorized by the State involved and approved, cleared, or authorized by the Food and Drug Administration” — but downrange, AI medicine is clearly the goal. Our lawmakers evidently feel the time — and money — is right to remove the brakes and start letting AI into the health care system.

The Congressman’s optimism aside, AI has already fumbled in healthcare repeatedly — like the time an OpenAI-powered medical record tool was caught fabricating patients’ medical histories, or when a Microsoft diagnostic tool confidently asserted that the average hospital was haunted by numerous ghosts, or when an eating disorder helpline’s AI Chatbot went off the rails and started encouraging users to engage in disordered eating.

https://futurism.com/neoscope/new-law-ai-replace-doctor-prescribe-drugs

Sorry but as long as I can I will resist this ‘service’ ….I do not want soul-less piece of tech crap diagnosing my medical situation. and because I am old hopefully I will pass on before this is the rule of the day.

Does this make Americans healthier?

Will this protect us from debilitating disease?

Will this improve Americans quality of life?

What say you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The $600 Billion Swindle

Before I begin I want to wish all my Dads out there…..

Happy Father’s Day!

I am an old fart and retired and most people I know are retired or close to retirement and I keep a watch on what is going on with Medicare and the insurance giants.

I have been trying to warn my readers of the dangers and the scams run under the guise of “Medicare Advantage” tag.

Since last year I have been warning my readers that are considering one of these ‘plans’ to beware and why….

Medicare Advantage Plans

A new analysis of these plans illustrates just how bad and how deep these swindles go.

A new academic analysis published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine details the enormous sums that privatized Medicare Advantage plans have cost U.S. taxpayers in recent years and calls for the abolition of the program, which has been massively profitable for the insurance giants that dominate it.

Citing the nonpartisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the paper notes that Medicare Advantage (MA) plans have overcharged the federal government to the tune of $612 billion since 2007—and $82 billion last year alone.

MA plans—now used by more than half of the eligible Medicare population—utilize a range of tactics to reap larger payments from the federal government, which provides insurers a lump sum for each Medicare Advantage patient. The size of the payment depends on the enrollee’s health, which MA plans are notorious for portraying as worse than it is in order to receive heftier government payments.

“Paradoxically, despite those overpayments, MA plans spend 9% less on medical services than [fee-for-service] Medicare spends for comparable enrollees,” reads the new study. “If MA plans pay for less care, where do the overpayments go? Some pay for supplementary benefits, although plans do not disclose how much they spend on them, and MA enrollees do not get significantly more dental care or incur lower out-of-pocket dental costs than those in FFS Medicare. Instead, overhead and profit eats up the lion’s share.”

The study’s authors estimate that MA plans’ overhead from 2007 to 2024 was $592 billion, which is “equivalent to 97% of taxpayers’ $612 billion overpayments to them during that period.”

Dr. Adam Gaffney, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the lead author of the new study, said in a statement that “Medicare Advantage is a bad deal for taxpayers.”

“Money that could be used to eliminate all copayments or shore up Medicare’s Trust Fund is instead lining insurers’ pockets,” said Gaffney. “And the private insurers keep Medicare Advantage enrollees from getting needed care by erecting bureaucratic hurdles like prior authorizations and payment denials.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/medicare-advantage-cost

Please read all the information if you want to save your cash….do not listen to the hype….ask questions and arm yourself with facts not promises.

Be Smart!

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I hope the Dads have a great day and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

2023 Medicare Cuts Pending

As a retired senior I am constantly watching for news on Medicare so that I can bring the news to my senior readers…..a public service from IST….

In 2023 we will have a new Congress and there is already cuts on the books to Medicare without the silliness from the GOP.

If you are a senior that depends on Medicare for your medical needs you need to read this and be aware of the changes we are looking at for the coming year.

New changes are set to come to Medicare next year. They will likely make expenses tighter for doctors, and put vital healthcare out of reach for some older patients. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, announced several policy changes in early November that will come into effect at the beginning of next year.

Among them are Medicare cuts to doctors through the Physician Fee Schedule, which is used to determine which services doctors are reimbursed for, and how much they get. Medicare reimbursement will decrease by about 4.5%, and ​​surgical care will face a nearly 8.5% cut.

“It’s affecting how doctors can run their businesses,” Christian Shalgain, Director of Advocacy and Health Policy at the American College of Surgeons, told Insider. “I’ve talked to doctors who are saying, ‘I have to decide whether to hire a new person or buy a new piece of equipment.’ That’s a significant problem from a patient’s perspective.”

If healthcare providers get less money through Medicare, they won’t be able to hire as many nurses, doctors, and other staff, as well as fund necessary equipment for services. It affects the quality of care patients are able to get, and can even impact how many Medicare patients a healthcare provider can take on, Shalgain said.

In years past, Congress has been able to postpone these preplanned cuts until the next year, varyingly achieving full scraps of the plan, or reduced cuts. Doctors’ groups lobby annually for Congress to intervene, because they say that it stretches their budgets thin, which is especially a problem given that hospitals are already strained from COVID and healthcare costs are skyrocketing. 

https://www.businessinsider.com/medicare-cuts-affect-seniors-healthcare-medicaid-social-security-funding-2022-11

The good news is that your insulin may be more affordable….the bad news is the rest of your health needs will be more expensive.

Before you get excited maybe you should read this……

Peace and economic justice advocates responded to the imminent unveiling Friday of the United States Air Force’s new $750 million-per-plane nuclear bomber by reiterating accusations of misplaced priorities in a nation where tens of millions of people live in poverty and lack adequate healthcare coverage.

Military-industrial complex giant Northrop Grumman is set to introduce its B-21 Raider on Friday. The B-21, whose development was 30 years in the making and whose total project cost is expected to exceed $200 billion, is tapped to replace the aging B-2 Spirit.

“One thing the world definitely does not need is another stealth bomber,” Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the peace group CodePink,

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/12/02/millions-americans-lack-adequate-health-coverage-pentagon-has-new-nuclear-bomber

That’s right we will get stale bread crumbs and the M-IC gets champagne…..

And you vote for these people….shame on you!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Best Health Care In The World

How many times have you heard this bit of BS spread on your favorite boob tub show?

And yes it is BS!

Let’s look at the pricing of health care.

With hospitals across the U.S. refusing to comply with a new federal rule requiring them to disclose the prices they negotiate with health insurers, a sampling of previously secret data published late Sunday reveals how much basic medical procedures cost at dozens of major hospitals in a project that critics of the for-profit healthcare system said reveals the severity of its dysfunction. 
 
The database of hospital rates compiled by the New York Times and researchers at University of Maryland-Baltimore details how patients are charged drastically different prices for the same medical care depending on what insurance company they use—with some procedures costing less if a patient has no insurance at all.
 
As the Times reported, at University of Mississippi Medical Center a patient with a Cigna plan can expect to pay $1,463 for a colonoscopy, while someone with Aetna insurance would be charged more than $2,100. An uninsured patient would be billed for $782.
 
Patients receiving an M.R.I. at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida will be billed between $1,827 and $2,455 if they have a Cigna, Humana, or Blue Cross plan, and only $262 if they have Medicare.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/08/23/once-secret-prices-expose-irrational-and-cruel-nature-us-healthcare-system

Looking at the pricing and tell me that there is not some room for repair.

Medicare For All (M4A) is the only answer….all the big talk and BS from politicians especially those damn Centrist are doing nothing to curb the blatant theft by the health industry of hard earned dollars from their patients.

M4A looks like the best way forward.

Pricing is just one area of the massive fraud and theft by this industry….there is so much more that needs attention and all we get is politicians bowing to the donations from the health industry to do nothing to change their corruption and theft.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Trump Hold-Over Policies

Biden is having to deal with a whole array of policies that are hold-overs from the Trump admin……policies like the border situation……the Afghan peace deal…….etc etc……

For those that depend on Medicare there ism a policy leftover that could further raise your costs when using the program…..

A little-noticed scheme hatched in the late stages of the Trump presidency has consumer advocates and universal healthcare proponents warning about a creeping attempt to further privatize Medicare—an effort the Biden administration is being urged to stop in its tracks.

On December 3, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)—then under the leadership of Seema Verma—unveiled an innocuous-sounding proposal titled the Geographic Direct Contracting Model (Geo) with the purported goal of delivering “Medicare beneficiaries value through better care and improved quality.”

But a look beyond the plan’s technocratic exterior reveals what Center for Health Journalismreporter and editor Trudy Lieberman described earlier this week as a privatization model that could “take root and potentially turn every senior into a customer of a privately-run managed care organization.”

“Perhaps due to the wonky nature of the discussion,” Lieberman added, “the proposed change has generated almost no media coverage although it would upend the health insurance for millions of Americans.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/13/advocates-sound-alarm-over-quiet-trump-era-move-could-further-privatize-medicare

This is something that needs watching and reporting…..the MSM has neglected this in favor of Beyonce, mundane Covid coverage and such mind numbing BS….this issue is important to millions of retired Americans and it should be treated like it is important.

Watch This Blog!

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I Read, I Write, you Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–04Sep20

Daily we have reports on the track of the Covid-19 virus here in the US….but seldom do we get the actual costs of contracting the virus.

A guy in Washington got his bill for his treatment of the virus…..7 figures!

One of the first COVID-19 patients in the US, Michael Flor of Seattle spent 62 days in the hospital and two weeks in a rehab facility—then returned home to a $1.1 million medical bill. There were thousands of charges on the 181-page bill, he tells KOMO News. An earlier story from ABC 13 explains that he was charged $9,700 for each day in the ICU, $80,000 for 29 days on a ventilator, and more. Fortunately, Medicare, supplemental insurance, and Congressional funding to help hospitals with coronavirus costs kicked in, and he only had to pay about $3,000. Even so, Flor’s story highlights the shell shock that could come for many coronavirus patients.

The news station says one national survey of healthcare claims found the average charge of a COVID hospitalization for someone without insurance is around $73,000; with insurance, it’s around $38,000. The full cost of COVID hospitalizations for this year in the US is expected to be $17 billion, and one actuary studying that cost and its consequences says it will end up increasing taxes and insurance premiums: “What happens with the entire system is that COVID-19 is going to be expensive.” But, she notes, the true cost may not be known for quite some time, as the long-term effects of the disease are still being uncovered. As for Flor, the Seattle Times highlights his full story here.

Personally I think that the media needs to re-port the costs as well….maybe that will scare the idiots that do not wear masks into realizing what they will be paying in the future.

Then there is the cost for the vaccine when it is finally approved for use…..for those casual readers that may have missed my post on the vaccine…..https://lobotero.com/2020/06/17/remember-that-vaccine/

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“lego ergo scribo”

 

Tests And Treatment

The big news coming out of one of Trump’s pressers is that the prognosis was positive Americans that want a virus test can get it and for free.

See that is the type of news that should be made at the very beginning of this pandemic…..but late news is still good news.

That then got me to thinking…the test is free but what about the treatment once the diagnosis is positive?

Did not tke long for the information although a bit contradictory to start seeping out at a snail’s pace……and then my question gets an answer….

Thousands of people, if not millions, experts predict, will be admitted to hospitals during the pandemic. They’ll not only be facing a disease, COVID-19, but a bill—in one Massachusetts woman’s case, $34,927.43—that they might not be able to pay. “I was pretty sticker-shocked,” Danni Askini said. “I personally don’t know anybody who has that kind of money.” It took several trips to the ER before she was given a test that confirmed that she had the disease. Askini was about to start a new job and didn’t have insurance. Now that she won’t be able to start the job yet, Askini has applied for Medicaid, hoping the bill will be covered retroactively. Otherwise, she said in a tweet, “I will never be able to pay” the $35,000.

Even a COVID-19 patient with employer insurance can expect a bill of just under $10,000, assuming there are no complications, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates. Complications would double that, per Time. And there are 27 million Americans without health insurance. It’s a larger story than her experience, Askini said, adding that she doesn’t want to be anyone’s “sympathy porn”; it’s about a broken system. The test alone cost her $900. The total bill, Askini tweeted, was more than her bachelor’s and master’s degrees cost combined.

Damn!

Here’s a thought….those profits the Senators made from inside trading be confiscated and put into a fund to help people struggling to pay for their health care.

You guys have any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Time for our secret walk…….

Image

Please everyone be well and safe……

I Read, I Write You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Can We Afford Medicare For All?

One very popular, (at least with the voter, not so much with the industry)…I wrote a post a few months ago that got the ire of the health industry demanding that I explain how we will pay for the program……please check out the comments on that post……https://lobotero.com/2019/03/04/medicare-for-all/

So in that vane I have read a piece that will help explain how this can be paid for……

Health care is Americans’ number-one priority, based on recent polls, so it’s no wonder it’s been a hot topic in the Democratic primary.

Every candidate is offering a plan, ranging from Joe Biden’s Affordable Care Act upgrade to Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for all” that would abolish private health insurance. Even the president is joining the bandwagon and unveiled his own Medicare plan.

On the high end, a full-scale single-payer heath care system would come at a steep price: I estimate about US$40 trillion over 10 years.

There is, however, a simpler and less costly path toward single-payer, and it may have a better chance of success: simply strike the words “who are age 65 or over” from the 1965 amendments to the Social Security Act that created Medicare, which would mean virtually everyone would be covered by the existing Medicare program.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/10/07/how-us-could-afford-medicare-all

I say we can and must fund a policy of health care….I do not care what we call it just that it gets done and soon.

There is more….there is the LIE that hospitals will close with Medicare For All…..call this what it is manure (I was being polite)…….this lie was spread by a Dem candidate, Delaney…..

Delaney’s staff told us his talking point came from three sources. First: the fact Medicare pays hospitals on average 87 cents for every dollar of costs. Second: a federal report suggesting that “more than two-thirds of hospitals are losing money on Medicare inpatient services.” Third: Delaney, his staff said, “has been asking this question at the rural hospitals he has visited over the course of the campaign.”

Experts we spoke with offered a different take — mainly, that his evidence is not strong enough to support his claim. In addition, they told us that the potential impact of Medicare for All on hospitals would be much more nuanced — it is not at all clear that “every single hospital” would close, and while some would do worse, some might do better.

Delaney’s Debate Claim That ‘Medicare For All’ Will Shutter Hospitals Goes Overboard

I will be honest (more than the people that would lie this proposal out of existence) this Medicare For All is just a re-name of the old single payer…..and is it for all?

This “is an issue that affects, literally, every single person in this country,” he said. “Even putting the medical issues aside, it’s an economic issue. The way we finance health care promotes economic inequality.”

Medicare-for-all, in the purest sense, largely would replace private health insurance with a single, government-run program covering most everyone. It would be similar to traditional Medicare, the current federal health insurance program for most adults over 65 and young people meeting federal disability requirements, hence the name.

Sounds simple? It’s not.

https://www.propublica.org/article/medicare-for-all-is-not-medicare-and-not-really-for-all-so-what-does-it-actually-mean

Both sides of the issue have put so much stuff out there that this whole issue as become, to use my grandmother’s words, clear as mud.

We need a program that will help the population get the adequate health care they need and at a reasonable price……you will hear and read many versions of this please do some research and get the real story not some sanitized crap we always get.

On an up note—-a health industry insider is telling the tale of the profit system of the industry…..

Eleven years ago, after a moment of reckoning at a country health clinic in Tennessee, Potter left a high-ranking job as head of corporate communications at Cigna to tell the truth about the excesses and abuses of the health insurance industry. Since then, he has worked hard to spread the word, authoring two best-selling books, Nation on the Take (with Nick Penniman) and Deadly Spin, and founding the nonprofit investigative journalism site Tarbell.org, named after muckraking Progressive Era reporter Ida Tarbell.

Now, among all his other efforts, activist Wendell Potter has become president of Business for Medicare for All, the only national business organization working for single payer health insurance. This group of the economically pragmatic lends expertise and credibility to the cause of reform at a time when many, including some of those running for the Democratic presidential nomination, question the viability of single payer.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/09/30/healthcare-reformer-wendell-potter-profit-system-unraveling

You want to know why your medical bills are so high……ask Sen. Moscow Mitch…..

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised last month that he would block a drug pricing plan introduced in the House, calling it a “socialist” program that would do “damage to the healthcare system.”

Now, new analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has found that drug plan, put forward by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, would in fact save Medicare $345 billion over a decade.

The bulk of this savings would come from allowing the program to negotiate lower prices with pharmaceutical companies — something that is currently banned by law — to save money on the insulin and other expensive medications.

https://shareblue.com/mitch-mcconnell-nancy-pelosi-medicare-prescription-drug-pricing-plan-345-billion-congress/

So please stop blaming Obama for the higher prices and start blaming the slugs that are making the higher charges possible…..Moscow Mitch and his Ilk.

I await the industry hit man to make his presence known.

Until then a bill offered up by Speaker Pelosi to lower drug prices according to the CBO would save Medicare millions….

Democrats quickly touted the projected savings to show that their bill would effectively lower drug prices. 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/465491-cbo-pelosi-bill-to-lower-drug-prices-saves-medicare-345-billion

But not to worry a Pharma friendly Dem, Rep. Neal, is crushing the lower drug pricing bill……like he is paid to do…..

Following the lead of pharma-friendly Rep. Richard Neal, Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee this week crushed several progressive amendments to a House drug pricing bill that would have expanded the number of medicines covered by the legislation and extended lower costs to the nation’s tens of millions of uninsured.

The Intercept reported Wednesday that Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, warned his Democratic colleagues against offering any amendments to the Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019 (H.R. 3) during the committee’s markup of the legislation on Tuesday.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/10/24/led-pharma-friendly-rep-richard-neal-democrats-crush-progressive-amendments

Not to worry…..if your meds are expensive then you probably will not get a break….the staus quo remains.

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“Lego Ergo Scribo”