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President Joe Biden speaks about prescription drug costs.
(Photo: Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
I’m with Biden—Make the Gougers Negotiate
Under the president’s anti-inflation policy passed last year, our Medicare program can now negotiate drug prices on our behalf, which will drastically lower what we are now forced to pay to the profiteers for certain drugs.
Sep 10, 2023
We human beings sometimes do some terrible things in pursuit of the almighty dollar. But to our credit, one moral line most humans don’t cross is to gouge sick people on the price of medicines their lives depend on.
Unless, of course, you count executives of giant pharmaceutical corporations as human beings. Gouging patients is their preferred business model.
It’s a scream, then, to watch Big Pharma fall into a sky-is-falling fit over our government’s long-overdue move to give patients some bargaining power over this monopolistic industry. Under President Joe Biden’s anti-inflation policy passed last year, our Medicare program can now negotiate drug prices on our behalf.
Mega-drug outfits like Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Bristol Myers spend more on advertising, exorbitant executive salaries, lobbying, and big stockholder payouts than on research.
This will drastically lower what you and I are now forced to pay to the profiteers for certain drugs.
For decades, Congress has coddled the corporate gougers who maintain by far the biggest lobbying army in Washington, allowing them to manipulate patent laws and rig the system. As a result, we Americans pay two-to-three times more than people in other countries for the exact same medicines.
“Oh,” wail drug executives, “bloated profits give us the incentive to keep developing innovative new cures.” Hold it right there, Slick—most basic drug development is done by tax-funded medical researchers, not brand-name market hucksters.
Mega-drug outfits like Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Bristol Myers spend more on advertising, exorbitant executive salaries, lobbying, and big stockholder payouts than on research. Still, these same greedhounds are suing Biden, howling that making them negotiate is an unconstitutional “taking” of their income.
But hello—these scoundrels have been taking our income, health, and lives for years.
I’m with Biden on this—as is 80% of the public (including 77% of Republicans) who favor making the gougers negotiate. To stay informed and involved, connect with Public Citizen at citizen.org.
An Unconstitutional Rampage
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
This column was distributed by OtherWords.
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
big pharmajoe bidenmedicarebristol myersdrug pricesinflation reduction actjohnson & johnsonmerckdrug price negotiations
We human beings sometimes do some terrible things in pursuit of the almighty dollar. But to our credit, one moral line most humans don’t cross is to gouge sick people on the price of medicines their lives depend on.
Unless, of course, you count executives of giant pharmaceutical corporations as human beings. Gouging patients is their preferred business model.
It’s a scream, then, to watch Big Pharma fall into a sky-is-falling fit over our government’s long-overdue move to give patients some bargaining power over this monopolistic industry. Under President Joe Biden’s anti-inflation policy passed last year, our Medicare program can now negotiate drug prices on our behalf.
Mega-drug outfits like Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Bristol Myers spend more on advertising, exorbitant executive salaries, lobbying, and big stockholder payouts than on research.
This will drastically lower what you and I are now forced to pay to the profiteers for certain drugs.
For decades, Congress has coddled the corporate gougers who maintain by far the biggest lobbying army in Washington, allowing them to manipulate patent laws and rig the system. As a result, we Americans pay two-to-three times more than people in other countries for the exact same medicines.
“Oh,” wail drug executives, “bloated profits give us the incentive to keep developing innovative new cures.” Hold it right there, Slick—most basic drug development is done by tax-funded medical researchers, not brand-name market hucksters.
Mega-drug outfits like Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Bristol Myers spend more on advertising, exorbitant executive salaries, lobbying, and big stockholder payouts than on research. Still, these same greedhounds are suing Biden, howling that making them negotiate is an unconstitutional “taking” of their income.
But hello—these scoundrels have been taking our income, health, and lives for years.
I’m with Biden on this—as is 80% of the public (including 77% of Republicans) who favor making the gougers negotiate. To stay informed and involved, connect with Public Citizen at citizen.org.
From Your Site Articles
- Letting Medicare Negotiate Drug Prices Would Save US Nearly $290 Billion: CBO ›
- Big Pharma and GOP Allies Aim to Sabotage Medicare Drug Price Reforms ›
- 'Watershed Moment': Biden Admin Unveils First 10 Drugs Subject to Medicare Price Negotiations ›
- 'No Surprise': Big Pharma Sues Biden Over Effort to Lower Drug Prices for Americans ›
- 'Shameless Greed': Pharma Giant Merck Sues to Kill Medicare Drug Price Negotiations ›
- Pharma-Funded Republicans Go to Bat for Drug Industry as Medicare Moves to Negotiate Prices ›
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
We human beings sometimes do some terrible things in pursuit of the almighty dollar. But to our credit, one moral line most humans don’t cross is to gouge sick people on the price of medicines their lives depend on.
Unless, of course, you count executives of giant pharmaceutical corporations as human beings. Gouging patients is their preferred business model.
It’s a scream, then, to watch Big Pharma fall into a sky-is-falling fit over our government’s long-overdue move to give patients some bargaining power over this monopolistic industry. Under President Joe Biden’s anti-inflation policy passed last year, our Medicare program can now negotiate drug prices on our behalf.
Mega-drug outfits like Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Bristol Myers spend more on advertising, exorbitant executive salaries, lobbying, and big stockholder payouts than on research.
This will drastically lower what you and I are now forced to pay to the profiteers for certain drugs.
For decades, Congress has coddled the corporate gougers who maintain by far the biggest lobbying army in Washington, allowing them to manipulate patent laws and rig the system. As a result, we Americans pay two-to-three times more than people in other countries for the exact same medicines.
“Oh,” wail drug executives, “bloated profits give us the incentive to keep developing innovative new cures.” Hold it right there, Slick—most basic drug development is done by tax-funded medical researchers, not brand-name market hucksters.
Mega-drug outfits like Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Bristol Myers spend more on advertising, exorbitant executive salaries, lobbying, and big stockholder payouts than on research. Still, these same greedhounds are suing Biden, howling that making them negotiate is an unconstitutional “taking” of their income.
But hello—these scoundrels have been taking our income, health, and lives for years.
I’m with Biden on this—as is 80% of the public (including 77% of Republicans) who favor making the gougers negotiate. To stay informed and involved, connect with Public Citizen at citizen.org.
From Your Site Articles
- Letting Medicare Negotiate Drug Prices Would Save US Nearly $290 Billion: CBO ›
- Big Pharma and GOP Allies Aim to Sabotage Medicare Drug Price Reforms ›
- 'Watershed Moment': Biden Admin Unveils First 10 Drugs Subject to Medicare Price Negotiations ›
- 'No Surprise': Big Pharma Sues Biden Over Effort to Lower Drug Prices for Americans ›
- 'Shameless Greed': Pharma Giant Merck Sues to Kill Medicare Drug Price Negotiations ›
- Pharma-Funded Republicans Go to Bat for Drug Industry as Medicare Moves to Negotiate Prices ›
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