On the recordNovember 20, 2019
I was walking by and heard Senator Wyden--I do not usually sit over here--Senator Wyden was speaking about healthcare. It is just so clear to me some of the things that this body could be doing to bring down the cost of healthcare and to expand the number of people that have health insurance. I know, in my State, I worked with, I know, a friend of the Presiding Officer, Governor Kasich, a Republican--I am a Democrat--on expanding Medicaid in Ohio. In fact, after the Affordable Care Act, we now have 900,000 more people that have insurance. But what I liked about what Senator Wyden was saying was some of the things we could do in the future. It is clear to me, if we allowed the government to negotiate drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries, directly with the drug companies the way we do at the Veterans Administration, it could make a huge difference in drug costs. We, in this body, a large part is because the drug company lobby refuses to do it.
