R
rdean
Guest
That's not exactly how it works and it happened under George W. Bush. Remember, Republicans were able to use reconciliation three times. You can only use it when you have majorities in both houses.I wish I could remember the guest, but one day on Morning Joe (I channel surf) recently, he stated that negotiating drug prices is off the books because Congress baked it into some law. Absolutely no price negotiations.30 days of restasis in the us costs around 424.85 cents with insurance.....i can get 90 days worth from canada for under 400 bucks...why one might ask? cause canada forces pharms to bargain with the government on prices...unlike the us where they are allowed to price gouge with no consequences
Who ARE those 535 people working for??
So what the Republicans did was make bundling illegal, but only for this country. Other countries can bundle. Provinces in Canada can bundle. Health care systems from Japan can bundle.
What bundling is, is buying in bulk. So if it were allowed in this country, if it were allowed, which it isn't, a bunch of states could get together and buy pennicilian in bulk based on what they used the year before.
Buying in bulk allows you to pay very little per pill. Just the same for any other production company. For the more expensive medicines, the cost savings can be enormous. But Republicans made that illegal. An HMO, for instance, can only buy what it uses. That passes on enormous cost. But the company that makes the product reaps a huge, huge profit.
I know a guy from India who mailed off to India to buy his father's medicine because it was like 1/50th the cost of buying it here. But it was made here. So it's made here, sent to India and then sent back here.
So right away, Republicans on the USMB will cry "prove it, provide a link". Well, I did. Back when Bush was president. And Republicans on the USMB defended the practice insisting drug companies have a right to make a profit. So if you Republicans want to find out more about it, go look it up. I ain't doing shit. I only explained how it works. Like I did when Bush was president.
That's why Republicans are just sickening to me. They have incredibly short memories when it's convienient. And you constantly have to prove to them all the bullshit their party does. You can grind their nose in it and still they will refuse to see it.