Trump to Drop Call for Medicare to Negotiate Lower Drug Prices

[thilanliyan]

I just remembered...I need to call my insurance company to see why my blood thinner med is now costing me $250 instead of the $18 I've been paying since my heart attack last year. Here's to hoping that Trump can make an actual difference regarding these Big Pharma rat bastards.

Do you really expect Trump to do anything to help middle class people (I'm assuming you are, could be wrong) keep more of their money? He doesn't care about anything but his own pockets, and possibly those of other very wealthy people. At least, that's what his policies so far has shown.

 

[fskimospy]

Do you really expect Trump to do anything to help middle class people (I'm assuming you are, could be wrong) keep more of their money? He doesn't care about anything but his own pockets, and possibly those of other very wealthy people. At least, that's what his policies so far has shown.

When I asked this earlier the only thing anyone could think of was Trump's 'tax cut' that's actually a tax increase on middle class people.

 

[VRAMdemon]

Trump: "we're taking on the "tangled web of special interests" to lower drug prices".

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/05/11/president-trump-unveils-prescription-drug-price-plan.html

Because, you know, he is so very good at untangling things...

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

And my interpretation of DSF is that he is not here to debate, he is here, in his mind, to stir up the liberal pot and get some kind of amusement and satisfaction from watching the fallout as you describe your self. Those delicious liberal tears. He is trolling, and be that as it may, he IS a better version of one for sure. Nonetheless... As an agnostic I might be wrong but I doubt it. Go looking for something deeper in DSFs posts at your own peril, I am not putting my money down.

I'm here primarily for 2 reasons...(1) to learn and have my views challenged, and (2) to challenge people like you to look at issues in a way that you're not especially accustomed to. That said, I'm not surprised that my posts appear to be trolling to you.

 

[kage69]

Suck it down Dump voters, you wanted this, you naive racist dipshits.

When grandma can't afford her medications and you're driving her 2hrs to the nearest doctor, remember to tell nana at least Hillary isn't using her emails to take your guns and force people to have abortions.

 

[kage69]

I'm here primarily for 2 reasons...(1) to learn and have my views challenged, and (2) to challenge people like you to look at issues in a way that you're not especially accustomed to. That said, I'm not surprised that my posts appear to be trolling to you.

Let's ignore for a moment you posted this after post #13 (wow)

Posts like this will get you clobbered with the search function DSF, you should know better. Maybe we should quote some choice examples of this desire to learn, have you explain why they aren't trolling?

You regurgitate talk radio and Fox talking points here, it's what you do, and to hear you now act like some open-minded champion of honest debate is pretty funny. Might be time to lay out a new game plan, as years of being on this forum have shown me your first reason for being here isn't happening.

 

[dank69]

Let's ignore for a moment you posted this after post #13 (wow)

Posts like this will get you clobbered with the search function DSF, you should know better. Maybe we should quote some choice examples of this desire to learn, have you explain why they aren't trolling?

You regurgitate talk radio and Fox talking points here, it's what you do, and to hear you now act like some open-minded champion of honest debate is pretty funny. Might be time to lay out a new game plan, as years of being on this forum have shown me your first reason for being here isn't happening.

Not to mention I am not sure what legacy he was talking about there and he never responded to my question asking about it.

 

[dainthomas]

I'm well aware of what was in the tax bill but I don't think trump claimed he would lower people's taxes forever. During his presidency most people will see lower taxes. For the record I don't think this is a good thing but I think most people think he completed that promise.

He also promised to be tougher on trade as a mechanism for helping the average American and he has done that as well. A lot of his promises to help the average American were stupid and counter productive but he has done some of them.

I promise to fix health care by building an altar to Baal on the south lawn and sacrificing a thousand goats to him.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Let's ignore for a moment you posted this after post #13 (wow)

What concerns you about Post #13? Not sure where you're coming from.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Not to mention I am not sure what legacy he was talking about there and he never responded to my question asking about it.

The "legacy" I was talking about Obama exasperating the Big Pharma problem with his backroom deal made to get ACA passed.

 

[fskimospy]

The "legacy" I was talking about Obama exasperating the Big Pharma problem with his backroom deal in order to get ACA passed.

How did he exacerbate it? He literally just left the bad drug policy created by Republicans unchanged.

 

[dank69]

The "legacy" I was talking about Obama exasperating the Big Pharma problem with his backroom deal made to get ACA passed.

And how exactly is Trump dismantling this legacy?

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Suck it down Dump voters, you wanted this, you naive racist dipshits.

When grandma can't afford her medications and you're driving her 2hrs to the nearest doctor, remember to tell nana at least Hillary isn't using her emails to take your guns and force people to have abortions.

^ It's posts like this that make me wonder why you post here.

 

[Chromagnus]

How did he exacerbate it? He literally just left the bad drug policy created by Republicans unchanged.

What you are missing is that everything bad in the world is obviously Obama's fault. Either that or Hillary's fault.

 

[fskimospy]

What you are missing is that everything bad in the world is obviously Obama's fault. Either that or Hillary's fault.

It is pretty amusing that DSF is trying to blame Obama for a law Republicans passed because a future law Obama passed didn’t fix their mistake.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

And how exactly is Trump dismantling this legacy?

He recognizes the issue and is attempting to do something about the problem. I don't know if he'll be successful or not (and, in contrast with so many here, I hope he will be successful), but ANYTHING is better than what we got from Obama (i.e. NOTHING).

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

It is pretty amusing that DSF is trying to blame Obama for a law Republicans passed because a future law Obama passed didn’t fix their mistake.

Only one law is causing our problem with high drug prices? Interesting. What law are you referring to?

 

[dyna]

I don't see the evil in this plan to reduce Medicare drug prices. Apparently Medicare doesn't deal with Pharma, they have contracted that process out which is why having Medicare deal with the prices doesn't make sense. It is probably moving a mountain for Medicare to take on such responsibility.

Ironically, it specifically states that Trump embraced the Democrat plan during the campaign so he actually had that initial intent. I don't see anything about this plan that suggests he is making this decision based on party lines. It just appears to be the most feasible approach and I kind of see why on the outside it is a good first step towards getting it under control. Democrats want more aggression but thats appears more like grand standing than actually providing a feasible solution.

 

[fskimospy]

Only one law is causing our problem with high drug prices? Interesting. What law are you referring to?

Oh god, is the ‘who, me?’ business starting already? The ‘back room deal’ you were clearly referring to was Obama agreeing not to include the ability of Medicare to negotiate prices in the ACA. This prohibition came from Medicare part D, legislation passed by the Republicans.

 

[fskimospy]

I don't see the evil in this plan to reduce Medicare drug prices. Apparently Medicare doesn't deal with Pharma, they have contracted that process out which is why having Medicare deal with the prices doesn't make sense. It is probably moving a mountain for Medicare to take on such responsibility.

Ironically, it specifically states that Trump embraced the Democrat plan during the campaign so he actually had that initial intent. I don't see anything about this plan that suggests he is making a this decision based on party lines. It just appears to be the most feasible approach and I kind of see why on the outside it is a good first step towards getting it under control. Democrats want more aggression but thats more like grand standing that actually providing a feasible solution.

This does absolutely nothing to get prices under control and of course Medicare is capable of negotiating prices. After all, that’s what the DoD, VA, and Medicaid already do.

If Trump actually made a good faith effort to get drug prices under control I would be the first to applaud him. Unfortunately he appears to be too incompetent and corrupt to do so.

 

[dyna]

This does absolutely nothing to get prices under control and of course Medicare is capable of negotiating prices. After all, that’s what the DoD, VA, and Medicaid already do.

If Trump actually made a good faith effort to get drug prices under control I would be the first to applaud him. Unfortunately he appears to be too incompetent and corrupt to do so.

From the article:

Under Part D of Medicare, millions of older Americans receive insurance coverage for prescription drugs. The benefit is delivered entirely by private entities under contract with Medicare. These private entities — insurance companies and the middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers — negotiate prices with drugmakers. But under a 2003 law, the federal government “may not interfere” in those negotiations.

 

[fskimospy]

From the article:

Yes exactly, Medicare is prevented from intervening. If permitted by law Medicare could easily say ‘whatever price you negotiate is up to you but we aren’t paying more than X’.

This is what other federal health care systems do, which is why they pay about 25% less for drugs than Medicare does.

 

[dyna]

Yes exactly, Medicare is prevented from intervening. If permitted by law Medicare could easily say ‘whatever price you negotiate is up to you but we aren’t paying more than X’.

This is what other federal health care systems do, which is why they pay about 25% less for drugs than Medicare does.

Hence, I believe the proposed change is the feasible option because Medicare doesn't have the infrastructure/data/people to do this job because they contracted it out. That could be a long term goal but it is probably a bit more complicated than just making the statement that Medicare can handle it.

 

[fskimospy]

Hence, I believe the proposed change is the feasible option because Medicare doesn't have the infrastructure/data/people to do this job because they contracted it out. That could be a long term goal but it is probably a bit more complicated than just making the statement that Medicare can handle it.

The proposed change does literally nothing to lower drug prices. Not one cent. It’s based on the idea that if drug companies make more money overseas they will forego profits here because, I don’t know, their CEOs will be visited by three spirits and learn the meaning of Christmas or something.

As for Medicare they could implement this almost overnight if they wanted to. While they stand up their own actuaries they could simply say ‘until that day we will pay what the VA pays’. Easy peasy.

 

[dyna]

The proposed change does literally nothing to lower drug prices. Not one cent. It’s based on the idea that if drug companies make more money overseas they will forego profits here because, I don’t know, their CEOs will be visited by three spirits and learn the meaning of Christmas or something.

As for Medicare they could implement this almost overnight if they wanted to. While they stand up their own actuaries they could simply say ‘until that day we will pay what the VA pays’. Easy peasy.

The whole article is about reducing drug prices, lmao, what are you talking about? It would be complete fail if it didn't reduce it by 1 cent. Despite ease of negotiations which admittedly is nebulous but that is because the plan hasn't been revealed, it does specifically say that 1/3 of the rebates will have to be used to reduce the cost of the drugs which is a tangible reduction in cost.