Chuck Schumer: “The bottom line is that the Senator is exactly right. There is no difference, from an economic point of view, in a State…”

“The bottom line is that the Senator is exactly right. There is no difference, from an economic point of view, in a State getting together and bargaining for its people and an insurance company or HMO doing it. In fact, you can argue that the State has more legitimacy, being an elected body and representing the will of the whole people of Michigan, Maine, Massachusetts, or New York. What about over in Europe or in Canada? They put on a price control. The pharmaceutical company still ends up selling the drug. Do you know what ends up happening? It is the American citizen who ends up paying for all the research, which does good around the whole world, for, say, Celebrex or Vioxx. Who pays the whole thing? Us. Why shouldn't the American taxpayer and citizen, through his and her State government, be allowed to say we should not bear that whole cost ourselves? That is the thrust of the amendment of the Senator from Michigan. It is free market. There is no lock-in.”