The Democrats ARE NOT concerned about ObamaCare and care of Americans, this is ALL ABOUT Part D that ran about $80 billion a year in 2015, and is on track to double by 2022 as benefits improve and Baby Boomers retire. For two reasons, a significant chunk of that money is wasted on overpayments to drug companies: When Part D began, millions of patients were shifted over from Medicaid, the state-federal program for low-income people that gets far lower drug prices than Medicare. Suddenly, the cost of providing drugs to the same people shot up. Congress barred Medicare from negotiating the way Medicaid and the Department of Veterans Affairs do with drug makers to get lower prices. Instead, lawmakers insisted the job be done by private insurance companies.

The REAL reason prescriptions and healthcare in general are SO high compared to other countries isn’t because we cover research and development of new drugs, in fact, much of the research is conducted through universities. The real reason is, Medicare is FORBIDDEN, in the law that created Medicare Part D, to negotiate lower prices and that’s no accident. The drug lobby worked hard to ensure Medicare would NOT be allowed to cut into the profits which would flow to big Pharma thanks to millions of new customers delivered to them by Part D.

Billy Tauzin (former Democrat turned Republican Congressman from Louisiana), was the primary driving force behind this catastrophic bill. Tauzin resigned from Congress in Feb 2004. In Jan 2005, the day after his term in Congress ended he began work as the head of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA a powerful trade group for pharmaceutical companies. Tauzin was hired at a salary outsiders estimated at $2 million a year.

Two months before resigning as chair of the committee which oversees the drug industry, Tauzin had played a key role in shepherding through Congress the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill. Many said that the bill was “a give-away to the drug makers” because it prohibited the government from negotiating lower drug prices and BANS the importation of identical, cheaper, drugs from Canada and elsewhere. The Veterans Affairs agency, which can negotiate drug prices, pays much less than Medicare.

The bill was passed in an unusual congressional session at 3 a.m. under heavy pressure from the drug companies.

As head of PhRMA, Tauzin was a key player in 2009 health care reform negotiations (ObamaCare) that produced pharmaceutical industry support for White House and Senate efforts. Tauzin received $11.6 million from PhRMA in 2010, making him the HIGHEST-PAID health-law lobbyist. Tauzin now is on the Board of Directors at Louisiana Healthcare Group. 🤔

When the U.S. government is THEE LARGEST customer of pharmaceutical products and healthcare, and WITHOUT the ability to NEGOTIATE pricing for products and services, pharmaceutical and healthcare companies can name their price – even when that price is ULTRA-High! THIS IS THE LEVEL OF GREED behind ObamaCare and the ability that was gifted to the healthcare industry, by our elected officials in the wee hours of the morning, when the world was sleeping!

I researched pharma for years, long before I walked away from the Democrats. If Trump would repeal this crap, I guarantee the Democrats and RINOs in DC would really explode!

Here my research with links and images from 2015. Nothing has changed much since then. http://www.notb4coffee.com/exploring-the-truth-about-the-high-cost-of-prescriptions-its-not-what-they-want-us-to-think/