The Senate is beginning to take up the reconciliation bill that would repeal significant portions of the Affordable Care Act. Unfortunately, it also opens the door for all sorts of misguided health policy initiatives, including meddling with the highly successful Medicare Part D drug program.
Given the political setting, this is perhaps unsurprising. The front page of Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal features a lengthy article on the price of pharmaceuticals in the United States. The presidential campaign highlights heated rhetoric on the cost of drugs and a bidding war for ways the taxpayer should pick up the tab on out-of-pocket costs. It is natural for Senate progressives to get in the game by proposing another shot at the “noninterference” clause in the Medicare Part D prescription drug program. That clause bars the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) from intervening in negotiations between drug manufacturers, pharmacies, and privately administered Part D drug plans.
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