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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDemocrats just called McConnell's bluff on a key reform -- and he has no idea how to respond: report
One of the key policy goals that both President Donald Trump and Democrats have repeated on the campaign trail is drug pricing reform. 66 percent of Americans take at least one prescription drug, and like most forms of health care, the cost of these drugs has risen much faster than inflation in recent decades, putting enormous pressure on politicians to come up with an answer. Indeed, until now, Republicans have attacked impeachment by claiming that it leaves Congress with no time to consider drug pricing.
Quite aside from doing away with the anti-impeachment talking point, the bill contains several provisions that Republicans in the Senate have stated they will not allow, including authorizing the government to negotiate a 250 percent discount on drug prices for Medicare. Although Trump himself made negotiating Medicare drug prices a key part of his presidential platform, and although the measure is extremely popular, Republicans dont want to anger the pharmaceutical industry, which is threatening to roll out fewer new drugs if the bill becomes law.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/12/democrats-just-called-mcconnells-bluff-on-a-key-reform-and-he-has-no-idea-how-to-respond-report/
lark
(23,156 posts)the same way he's responded to climate change, voting security, DACA, etc. etc. He'll just block the bill. He's already blocking hundreds, what's one more. McConnell will do nothing, zero, nada, zilch for the American people and everything for big industry including big pharma.
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)I wonder what percentage of the public knows Moscow Mitch has refused to take up hundreds of bills as opposed to the percentage who buy into the "do-nothing Congress" lie.
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,430 posts)crickets
(25,983 posts)That phrase alone points out the problem in stark terms. Politically disposing of people in the name of corporate greed while simultaneously breaking a campaign promise is not good optics, never mind ethics and conscience. :sad trombone: