Yes, I think they should not be able to negotiate drug prices. Does the government buy and sell drugs? Does the government buy and sell cars?
I don't think the government should be in the medicare business, period. Since they have been, since 1965, the cost of healthcare has risen disproportionately to other items.
If the government negotiates drug prices it is all of a sudden even more deeply and intimately involved in our lives. Once it is involved in price setting, which is what that is all about no matter the guise, it then distorts the free market. It also establishes itself more deeply into the healthcare provider industry, just one small step away from national healthcare. If they are handling something so large as the drug benefits for seniors, why not let them administer it all?
As I understand it, that was the plum promised Ross Perot for his help in splitting the Republican vote in 1992, that his company, Perot Systems, would administer a large portion of the nations healthcare programs (Hillarycare). Who will get that plum if this passes? Perot, again, or someone new?
Anytime government gets involved costs go up, not down. Providers have to navigate intricate paper work designed to document services provided and to eliminate cheating, which like most government rules and regulations only inconvenience the honest rather than stopping the dishonest. That increases the cost to the government and to the provider so the provider must raise prices. The taxpayer pays it.
Without all that, health services and health insurance, and the availability of both, would be cheaper and more varied and available.
Interesting. I assume you believe that government should be in the army interest? Should the government be able to negotiate prices with military contractors?