Over the last week, we reported House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced a plan to lower prescription drug prices.
Reportedly, the plan would empower Medicare to negotiate prices on up to 250 of the most expensive drugs on the market, including insulin. Any company choosing not to negotiate could be hit with penalties if they won’t negotiate those prices.
For example, they could face up to a 65% tax on a drug’s annual gross sales if they fail to take part. Following that, the penalty could increase by 10% for every quarter they refuse to lower prices with a penalty maxing at 95%.
Then, just last week, the House Ways and Means Committee approved the spending bill, sending it to the full House floor, where it’s already running into issues.
In fact, moderate and progressive House Democrats are clashing with each other over changes to Pelosi’s bill, as noted by The Hill. Some have already warned they could vote against the bill altogether if it “moves any further to the left.” And others want to toughen up legislation even more.
“Multiple Democrats, including Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, cautioned that the current draft of the legislation could fall short of the party’s promise to authorize Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs,” as noted by Politico.
Others say the bill may be unconstitutional and violate the Fifth and Eighth Amendments. For example, the “Takings Clause” prohibits the government from taking property without “just compensation.”
Then again, the fighting may not be worth it.
The measure has little chance of passage in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called it “socialist” with promises to block the bill. In short, it may be dead on arrival, as many have forecast.
