One step closer to government negotiation on drug prices

A bill that has been on the "to do" list of the new congress has passed approval by a Senate committee, according to the Wall Street Journal article "Senate Panel Approves Bill On Medicare Drug Prices". The government is now one step closer to having the power to negotiate drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries. Although many oppose this effort including the Bush administration, many others believe the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) should have the right (and in fact, it should be his/her duty) to interfere in the negotiations between drug makers, insurers and pharmacies.

And why not? After all, Medicare (which is under HHS) is responsible for the health benefits of 43 million people and it is their duty to make sure these beneficiaries receive the best price.

Opponents of this effort say government interference in negotiations would have a "negligible effect" on federal spending. However, if even a couple of million can be saved, isn't that something? After all , any savings that can be gotten can then be passed down to the beneficiaries.

Of course, this alone will not be the solution to lowering health care costs. There needs to be so much more done, as Adam Bosworth, VP of Engineering at Google, stated in his March entry on the official Google blog.