We are extremely disappointed that a minority of Senators has blocked legislation that could have allowed Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices to achieve substantial savings for seniors and for the working families whose taxes support this vital program. Instead, Big Pharma won the day. The nonsensical policy of barring such negotiations – a policy requested by the drugmakers when the Medicare prescription drug bill was enacted – remains the law of the land.

The Department of Veterans Affairs and state Medicaid programs use their buying power to negotiate more affordable drugs than those available to many Medicare beneficiaries. If the Department of Health and Human Services were allowed to put the purchasing power of tens of millions of Medicare beneficiaries behind negotiations with drug makers, it would undoubtedly result in lower prices for their products.

The savings could be used to improve the prescription drug benefit and strengthen Medicare’s fiscal health, while lowering costs and helping to keep more from falling into the benefit’s doughnut hole.

It’s clear that this is another example of how health care hustlers like Big Pharma are gaming the legislative system and blocking meaningful reform of our broken health care system. 

 The Health Care Hustle (www.workingamerica.org/healthcarehustle/ ) is an effort by Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, to unmask the real reason our nation’s health care system is broken and who is responsible for blocking meaningful reform.

Contact: Caren Benjamin (202) 637-5018