Those of us who supported some kind of competitive bidding and government buying in bulk to reduce costs were defeated because pharma objected. In that bill, they even outlawed the ability of the government to negotiate for lower prices based on volume. Those are "good business practices"--make sure we cannot get a good deal based on how many drugs we are going to buy. We cannot even lower the cost of this massive government entitlement program by negotiating for lower prices based on volume. They outlawed that.
Dick Durbin: “Those of us who supported some kind of competitive bidding and government buying in bulk to reduce costs were defeated…”
On the recordFebruary 25, 2010
Editor's note · Context
Senator Durbin discusses the impact of pharmaceutical lobbying on government price negotiations.
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