Calling on Don Corleone
Brando as Don Corleone.
How did President Trump get Big Pharma to “equalize” their prices with the EU’s?
Statement One:
“I will be instituting a MOST FAVORED NATION’S POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World,” the Republican president posted on social media on Sunday, pledging to sign the order on Monday morning at the White House.
Statement Two:
“Importing foreign prices will cut billions of dollars from Medicare with no guarantee that it helps patients or improves their access to medicines,” Stephen J. Ubl, the president and CEO of PhRMA, said in a statement. “It jeopardizes the hundreds of billions our member companies are planning to invest in America, making us more reliant on China for innovative medicines.”
“Why am I paying 8$ London for an identical pill that costs me $1300 in the U.S,” a wealthy friend of the President asks him. Response: the President will end that and so Americans will pay the lowest price anywhere in the world for drugs.
Statement Two points out the lowering drug costs doesn’t help patients. It’s a low cost drug and not a high cost one that will deter access. Also, if Big Pharma’s profit margin shrinks, as it will if they have to sell a $1300 drug for $8, investors will diminish.
This response is, of course,........
© CounterPunch
