Ed Haislmeier is a Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation's Center for Health and Welfare Policy. We're going to discuss the pros and cons of allowing the federal government to "negotiate" pharmaceutical prices as well as just what provisions along those lines are in the soon-to-be-law "Inflation Reduction Act". I have to say that this is one of the few issues that I struggle with greatly. I understand wanting to get the best deal for taxpayers and also that Americans, at least compared to people in other countries, seem to pay too much for our (legal) drugs. I also understand that there's really no such thing as a true "negotiation" against a customer as big as the federal government, especially when the penalty for not negotiating is a 95% tax on your pharma sales.
Edmund Haislmaier | The Heritage Foundation
More here: The risks of government negotiation of drug prices - The Boston Globe
And support for the "negotiation" from the left (which makes me think it's the wrong answer) here: Congress Can Act Now To Lower Drug Costs by Allowing Medicare To Negotiate Prices - Center for American Progress